First Launch - NASA's big new rocket at 1.30pm today ?

[Ross365]

I watched the "Elon Musk Show" on TV. I was amazed to see that ~10 years ago, a group of Apollo astronauts had appeared in front of a congressional committee to say that giving that work to SpacEx was completely wrong. One of them said, "They don't know what they don't know".

When told about it on screen, Elon was visible upset that men who had been his heroes were trying to put the knife in.

Sadly, the credibility that NASA gained with Apollo, was lost in large part through the demise of the two Shuttles, one or both of which was avoidable.

 

[Farside]

Could do without all the whoopin' and a hollerin' from the monkeys in the peanut gallery.
This is serious shyt, not a ***** stage show.

 

[Ross365]

Could do without all the whoopin' and a hollerin' from the monkeys in the peanut gallery.
This is serious shyt, not a ***** stage show.

Very highly talented monkeys! These are different times, a bit of hollerin's is part of their culture. That private company is making other countries, and organisations like the multi-member "European Space Agency" look like clowns.

.

 

[Bullet2012]

It has finally taken off

 

[Ross365]

I'm glad about it going well, but the solid boosters are essentially from the Shuttle, the liquid propellant engines are from the Shuttle etc etc. There not much really new there. I wonder what the cost of getting 1kg in to orbit on that system is compared with the SpaceX launchers?

 

[OJCar]

I want to know where they get that size of bottle .

 

[daedalusminos]

I wonder what the cost of getting 1kg in to orbit on that system is compared with the SpaceX launchers?

The SLS isn't about putting things in earth orbit, it's primary function will be in the early Artemis programs before Space X's Starship takes over.

 

[Screwdriver]

The SLS isn't about putting things in earth orbit, it's primary function will be in the early Artemis programs before Space X's Starship takes over.

I see it more as a politically motivated vanity project. We've been to the moon. I bet they just want to plant a flag up there and I bet I could tell you what colours that flag would be too (yeah, all of them )

Mars, Venus, moons of Jupiter are all much more interesting destinations. Asteroid mining too is way more interesting, more scientifically valid and potentially of huge benefit as we begin to run out of rare earth metals. I see the attraction of perhaps setting up a moon base as a staging post but my spidey senses suggest by the time you do that, might as well build a ginormous space station instead.