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I’m not debating the cost effectiveness of SLS (or lack thereof), but one of the advantages of the SLS program is that it keeps SpaceX honest and motivated. I’m sure Musk knows that if he keeps the pedal down with his program he will pick up a lot of business.
The problem doesn’t seem to be SpaceX, it’s that the other guys need to move out of the 60’s and pick up the pace.
I’m not debating the cost effectiveness of SLS (or lack thereof), but one of the advantages of the SLS program is that it keeps SpaceX honest and motivated.
I’m not debating the cost effectiveness of SLS (or lack thereof), but one of the advantages of the SLS program is that it keeps SpaceX honest and motivated. I’m sure Musk knows that if he keeps the pedal down with his program he will pick up a lot of business.
The problem doesn’t seem to be SpaceX, it’s that the other guys need to move out of the 60’s and pick up the pace.
Blue Origin.
Which will also fly (has already flown a suborbital 1st stage demo) before the SLS.
Also, every other state-sponsored operator out there, from LockMart's Atlas to the Chinese Long March.
Good point. Just think where we would be had the space program kept pushing the envelope these last 47 years. The space shuttle flights and the space station are /were great but it seems like it all has fallen to the wayside. Until Musk and Branson started creating hype for outer space again.
The ISS, while not as flashy or exciting as the Apollo program, has been immensely helpful with learning the effects of long-term spaceflight on the human body (as well as its many other contributions to science). I'm sure Space-X is also reaping the benefits and factoring in the ISS's discoveries on its plans for a mission to Mars.
There's a very real chance if we had sent a manned mission to Mars right after the Apollo program, that the crew wouldn't have made it.
I may be in the minority, but it's my position that the Shuttle was the worst thing to have happen to NASA. It turned NASA into a space transport agency where they should be building cutting-edge prototypes to push the envelope. It fostered a supply chain that we now seem unable to wean from the government teat. And it was so expensive to run, it killed off more worthwhile projects. That's saying nothing of it being dangerous.
I may be in the minority, but it's my position that the Shuttle was the worst thing to have happen to NASA. It turned NASA into a space transport agency where they should be building cutting-edge prototypes to push the envelope. It fostered a supply chain that we now seem unable to wean from the government teat. And it was so expensive to run, it killed off more worthwhile projects. That's saying nothing of it being dangerous.
STS was the worst sort of compromise - designed by committee and to be all things to everyone. As a result it suited nobody’s purposes. The Air Force in particular added some hefty requirements which killed many simpler solutions and then the OMB demanded major cost cutting so we ended up with a solid booster, external tank Frankenstein shuttle.
Grumman I seem to recall had a multistage design that reused Apollo F-1 engines, which could have reduced complexity.
NASA is the present day Starfleet so however many dozens of private space companies popup you can betcha behind they'll keep sending up rockets.
Ehm - they haven't got any.
NASA missions are flown on Soyuz, Ariane, Delta, Atlas and Falcon 9. (SpaceX just popped anothe rpre-flown Dragon on a pre-flown booster up to the SS.)
The only NASA-brand launcher in the pipeline is the billion-dollar-per-launch SLS. Which may or may not fly in 2020.
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