I have a problem with NASA not having its own launch system. Especially when the supposed replacements haven’t exactly demonstrated their viability or cheaper-than-SLS-ness yet. SLS has actually flown. Killing the Shuttle without a viable replacement left us reliant on the Russians to get to space. Killing SLS at the proposed time leaves us at the mercy of the promises of an asshat who has been promising FSD for over a decade.
That aside I also don’t have a problem with a tiny fraction of my tax dollars funding STEM careers.
The Senate Lunch System was flawed from the start. Its not a space program, its a political pork & white collar jobs make-work program.
The goals of those programs are laudable, but the mission profile was optimized for domestic politics rather than achieving the stated goals.
There are cheaper ways than a Lunar Gateway to accomplish building a fusion & rocket fuel refinery on the moon. Orion only makes sense in conjunction with a Lunar Gateway & SLS. SLS is disposable oldtech & a triumph of pork barrel politics over sound engineering.
It was a program meant to keep scientists and engineers in the US and focused on something other than building the next great algorithm. Now that we apparently don’t really want scientists and engineers anymore it makes even more sense to ditch it.
Well, at least someone thinks we don’t need scientist engineers anymore.
If this was a different administration with the intent to refocus on a different solution, I’d see some logic.
But this isn’t a smart or curious or noble administration, it’s stupid and petty and careless. This is just a stop, not a restart, not a rethink.
The Space Age is over.
This administration is a wrecking ball, but if there’s a next one, they’ll be well positioned to rebuild - unburdened by past mistakes that were kept around through momentum and the unwillingness of savvy career politicians to trash their reputations by passing extremely unpopular policy like the current admin is doing.
There’s always Europe, China and maybe Russia while they still have the cash
Still, I’m not into it being cut like this.
If this money was going to Florida, I am all in. Take every last penny away.
Well Gateway is an international effort. So…
