Is NASA’s SLS Doomed?

[tdracer]

Originally Posted by MostlyHarmless

The space industry seems to have an awful lot of problems with valves, cryogenic or otherwise.

A big part of the problem is that the launch rate is so pathetically low - right now ~ one launch every two years. During the 1960's moon race, they were launching every 2-3 months, and even after Apollo 11 successfully landed on the moon, the rate was still 2-3/year.
When you're doing the same job every few months, you learn and remember what can go wrong (and what to do about it when it does go wrong). With two years between launches, people forget or leave for other jobs, and every flight becomes basically a prototype 'first flight'.
And the SLS is so ungodly expensive, that's not going to change because they can't afford to do more frequent launches.
Space X is launching several times per month - and they're not having those issues.

[wiggy]

Change of plan again..announced a few hours ago

Artemis III becomes a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) mission involving a flight test of one or both prospective landers, first attempt at landing pushed back to Artemis IV.


https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/na...-architecture/

[ORAC]

Artemis III was never planned as a lander, just a circum-lunar flight.

[wiggy]

Originally Posted by ORAC

Artemis III was never planned as a lander, just a circum-lunar flight.

I haven’t been following this in massive detail but are you sure about that?

My understanding of the original plan was that Artemis II performs the first circum-lunar flight, then there was supposed to be/probably be an unmanned landing by the chosen landing system, a flight which would not be given an Artemis number, then Artemis III would be the first crewed landing attempt.

[MostlyHarmless]

Yeah - pretty sure III was a landing

It was https://www.space.com/space-explorat...athway-forward

[cavuman1]

NASA is targeting the Artemis launch on April Fools' Day (April 1.) I'm not saying a word... NASA To Attempt Fast Turn Around

- Ed

[cavuman1]

Accelerated Launch Schedule proposed by NASA. Artemis Launch Schedule

- Ed

[51bravo]

Very well. I never understood the Gateway thing anyway.

[B Fraser]

I watched the Artemis II crew interview last night. Has Disney taken over ? I lost count of how many times they said that something "resonated" or that someone had "reached out". One question was what the crew would be looking forwarded to upon their return. Rather than the smells of earth, a hot shower or a gravity assisted trip to the loo, it was all about caring and sharing.

Jeez, I miss the old school astronauts. The sort of folk who you would love to spend an hour with, shooting the breeze and swapping jokes. This lot would be more at home in a group therapy session.

Is Hoot Gibson too old to fly ?

[wiggy]

"This lot would be more at home in a group therapy session."

There's been grumbles for some years now, for example from those in the media with a history of covering spaceflight or even lowly convention attending autograph hunters that the modern generation of astronauts are pretty tight lipped, have been very coached and tend to be very guarded in what they say vs. previous generations.

Some of this no doubt is down to the fact that the commercial crews are representing big business, but it seems to have carried across into the NASA cohort.

The veteran spaceflight commentators are also saying similar about NASA official comms - it's nowhere near as open as it used to be.

[B Fraser]

Thank you for reaching out, that really resonates and shows that we have a shared experience that enriches our community.

Jeez, I miss Frank Bormann.

[ATSA1]

I wonder how much pressure that NASA is getting from the White House to get Artemis II launched this Wednesday?
When Apollo 8 was announced as going for Lunar orbit, instead of a high earth orbit, some eyebrows were raised. But it launched from an America in turmoil, the Vietnam war was causing great anguish, civil rights demonstrations were becoming commonplace, Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy were assassinated, so having Borman, Lovell and Anders reading from Genesis in Lunar orbit, made it a very special Xmas day.
Now we have Artemis II ready to launch, to reach the Moon in Easter weekend.
Will the Astronauts read from the New Testament this time, hoping to take everyone's mind off the chaos on Mother Earth?
By the way, its Full Moon on Thursday, so when they swing round the Moon, there will be precious little of the far side lit, missing a grand oppurtunity to get some decent new pics.
Or am I missing something?

[NineEighteen]

Indeed, it will be interesting to see how much of the far side can be documented in these days of HD and sensitive camera sensors.

I assume the more illumination would have been a ‘nice to have’. Rather the primary mission is proof of concert 54 years after the first proof of concept!

Exciting times. A real shame there will be no lunar orbit this time but a fascinating mission nonetheless.

22:24 - 00:24 UTC is the launch window for today!

[DuncanDoenitz]

And there it went.

Unbelievably bad coverage on TV. I assume it was the Nasa feed because it was identical on BBC and Sky. Rocket goes up, uneventful climb and, just as the SRBs are about to separate, camera cuts to 15 seconds of watching the crowd; videoing on their phones. And then the continued live coverage has NASA's "Artemis" logo obscuring the lat/long data.

Bring back James Burke and Sir Patrick.

Godspeed, by the way. Awesome.

[Jhieminga]

I agree, impressive to watch but I guess I’ve been spoilt by the SpaceX launches with multiple onboard camera angles. The footage from this mission is supposed to be better than that from the Apollo era, but the launch was shown in a 1970s telescope view only or so it seemed to me.

[B Fraser]

Originally Posted by DuncanDoenitz

Bring back James Burke and Sir Patrick.

I'll do it for expenses.