Congress saves over budget SLS and Gateway, cuts fiscally responsible NASA programs! [14:42]

YouTube ^ | July 6, 2025 | The Angry Astronaut

[SunkenCiv]

Attention Spaceflight enthusiasts! As you may know, the US Senate just saved SLS, Orion and Gateway with a $10 million investment. What you may not know, is that a recent GAO report revealed that those programs are even more over budget than we thought! And meanwhile, the fiscally responsible NASA programs are getting cut! 

Congress saves over budget SLS and Gateway, cuts fiscally responsible NASA programs!/a> | 14:42 
The Angry Astronaut | 198K subscribers | 14,018 views | July 6, 2025

---

TOPICS: Astronomy; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: angryastronaut; astronomy; bbb; nasa; nasatruth; orion; science; sciencetruth; tedcruz; texas

[SunkenCiv]

--> YouTube-Generated Transcript <--
0:03	·	Good afternoon, spaceflight enthusiasts.
0:05	·	Those of you who stay with your finger
0:08	·	on the pulse of NASA budgeting may have
0:10	·	heard, well, you probably heard a few
0:12	·	days ago that thanks to Senator Cruz, a
0:15	·	number of important aspects of the NASA
0:19	·	program, that is to say, continuing
0:21	·	operation of the International Space
0:23	·	Station, the SLS, the lunar gateway,
0:27	·	Orion, all of these things that have
0:30	·	taken so much flack for being too
0:32	·	expensive and outdated and therefore
0:34	·	being shut down, at least after Artemis
0:37	·	3 for most of them. Well, now they've
0:40	·	been saved with a considerable amount of
0:44	·	money being invested in these programs
0:47	·	thanks to an RDER bill that was attached
0:50	·	onto the so-called big beautiful bill
0:52	·	that is now a law, of course. But what
0:55	·	most people don't realize is that the
0:58	·	programs that Congress just spent $10
1:01	·	billion to save have actually come out
1:04	·	as being even less coste effective and
1:07	·	more behind schedule than they were
1:10	·	before according to the Government
1:12	·	Accounting Office. Whereas the
1:14	·	scientific programs that the government
1:16	·	did cancel were on target and on budget.
1:21	·	All of this and more coming at you on
1:23	·	the angry astronaut right now.
1:29	·	[Music]
1:32	·	Good afternoon, spaceflight enthusiasts,
1:34	·	and welcome to another angry bulletin.
1:37	·	This is going to be brief compared to
1:40	·	some of my videos simply because I'm in
1:42	·	the process of recovering from a very
1:44	·	nasty skin infection that actually had
1:47	·	me in the hospital for the vast majority
1:50	·	of the day yesterday and I need to get
1:52	·	some time to recover. But at the same
1:54	·	time, this is big news and I want to
1:56	·	make sure that you folks are aware of
1:58	·	it. So, first of all, let's talk about
2:00	·	saving SLS and Lunar Gateway, that sort
2:04	·	of thing. Which, by the way, for those
2:05	·	of you who watch my channel, you know
2:07	·	that I have argued that this is the
2:09	·	thing that we have to do right now,
2:11	·	given that we don't have another viable
2:14	·	way of reaching the moon, at least not
2:17	·	currently. Nor, in my opinion, are we
2:19	·	likely to before 2030. So, let's go
2:22	·	ahead and find out what the Senate did
2:24	·	about this. quote, "Legacy aerospace
2:27	·	giants scored a win Tuesday when the US
2:29	·	Senate passed President Trump's bud
2:31	·	budget reconciliation bill that earmarks
2:34	·	billions more for NASA's flagship
2:36	·	Artemis program. the 10 billion addition
2:39	·	to the Aremis architecture, which
2:42	·	includes funding for additional space
2:44	·	launch system rockets and an orbiting
2:46	·	station around the moon called Gateway,
2:49	·	is a rebuke to critics who wish to see
2:51	·	alternative technologies used instead.
2:54	·	Amongst those critics are SpaceX CEO
2:57	·	Elon Musk and billionaire entrepreneur
3:00	·	Jared Isaacman, which both of those
3:02	·	guys, as we all know, are on the outs
3:05	·	right now. So, let's continue. There's
3:08	·	no sign the souring relations between
3:10	·	Musk and Trump are recovering. If Trump
3:12	·	signs the bill, which they did, by the
3:15	·	way, the fallout, which began after the
3:17	·	president's abrupt abrupt revocation of
3:20	·	Isacman's domination, will likely
3:22	·	continue if not escalate, which it has
3:25	·	because Elon appears to be starting his
3:28	·	own political party. But I'm not going
3:30	·	to talk about that. Let's continue
3:31	·	talking about SLS. Musk in particular
3:35	·	has taken aim at the space launch system
3:37	·	rocket on the ground so it is fully
3:39	·	expendable. Unlike SpaceX's family of
3:42	·	rockets which are all designed to be
3:44	·	reusable, SLS is a one-time use only.
3:48	·	That means a billiondoll rocket is blown
3:51	·	up every time it is launched. Even that
3:54	·	may have been an understatement. That
3:56	·	was Musk criticism, by the way. More
3:58	·	recent figures from NASA's Watchdog put
4:01	·	the recurring production cost closer to
4:03	·	$2.5 billion each. A total of around $
4:07	·	24 billion has been poured into SLS
4:10	·	production to date. That includes
4:13	·	however development to not just
4:15	·	production. This is not exactly a fair
4:18	·	article in the way that it's presenting
4:20	·	this. But nevertheless, this is
4:21	·	Techrunch by the way who uh who is
4:24	·	reporting this. But we'll continue.
4:26	·	funds that have primarily gone to a
4:28	·	consortium of aerospace primes including
4:30	·	Boeing, L3 Harris's Aererojet rocket
4:34	·	dine and Northrup Grumman which leads
4:36	·	construction of the major rocket
4:38	·	components. During his recent
4:40	·	confirmation hearings with the Senate,
4:42	·	Isaacman questioned the massive sums. He
4:44	·	affirmed using SLS for the next two
4:47	·	Artemis missions. In other words,
4:49	·	Artemis 2 coming up at the beginning of
4:51	·	next year and Aremis 3, which can't
4:54	·	happen until Starship or Lunar Starship
4:57	·	is ready to put humans on the surface of
4:59	·	the moon. So, quite a ways in the future
5:01	·	with that one, but ultimately said that
5:04	·	he didn't think the rocket was quote the
5:06	·	long-term way to get to and from the
5:09	·	moon and to Mars with great frequency.
5:12	·	Congress and Trump, if he decides to
5:14	·	sign the bill into law, which he
5:16	·	obviously did. So all of this is a done
5:19	·	deal now have decided to press ahead.
5:22	·	Around $4.1 billion of the 10 billion
5:25	·	added to the document will go towards
5:28	·	additional SLS rockets for Artemis
5:30	·	missions four and five. And by the way,
5:34	·	Artemis 1 through 3 uses the block one,
5:37	·	the basic SLS. Artemis 4 and five has to
5:41	·	use the block 1B which requires also an
5:45	·	upgraded launch tower, meaning that all
5:48	·	of that has to be completed too before
5:50	·	Artemis 4 and 5 can proceed. On the
5:53	·	positive side of it, the Block 1B can
5:56	·	carry a lot more payload, especially
5:59	·	with the exploration upper stage add-on
6:02	·	to the rocket. But nevertheless, let's
6:04	·	continue. Meanwhile, about $2.6 $6
6:07	·	billion will go towards the completion
6:10	·	of the Gateway Space Station. Now, this
6:13	·	is a controversial space station. In my
6:16	·	opinion, it's a good thing. It's a great
6:18	·	way to keep a long-term presence around
6:21	·	the moon, maintaining a watch around the
6:24	·	entire moon, for one thing, enabling
6:27	·	landings on the moon in many different
6:30	·	locations. There's a lot of benefits to
6:31	·	the gateway. I've got videos about this
6:34	·	topic linked at the end of this one. if
6:36	·	you're interested in checking out my
6:39	·	argument on keeping gateway. So, in my
6:41	·	opinion, not a bad investment there.
6:44	·	Notably, the president's fiscal year
6:46	·	budget request for NASA submitted in May
6:49	·	proposed to phase out the space launch
6:51	·	system in Orion after Artemis 3 is
6:53	·	complete. Obviously, this flies in the
6:56	·	face of the proposal, which was
6:57	·	submitted before Musk and Trump's public
7:00	·	fallout in June. The new funding also
7:03	·	includes $700 million for a new Mars
7:06	·	telecommunications orbiter. $1.25
7:09	·	billion goes to the continual operation
7:12	·	of the International Space Station and
7:15	·	$325 million to SpaceX for the
7:18	·	development of a spacecraft to deorbit
7:20	·	the ISS at the end of the decade. So,
7:23	·	the total award for that deorbit is $843
7:28	·	million. Now, let me be 100% clear about
7:31	·	all of this. Even though I think
7:33	·	preserving SLS and Orion and the lunar
7:37	·	gateway are all necessary things to
7:40	·	enable mankind's return to the moon. And
7:44	·	until we have a viable replacement for
7:46	·	these rockets, we really shouldn't be
7:48	·	cancelling them. This is all about
7:51	·	preserving jobs. Keeping the SLS rocket
7:54	·	production going means that the same
7:57	·	people who are building space shuttles
7:59	·	are going to be building SLS rockets.
8:02	·	The same people who were employed in
8:05	·	building rockets for the last 45 years
8:08	·	in the same places in Texas and
8:11	·	Louisiana and other places for that
8:13	·	matter. They're all going to keep their
8:15	·	jobs, which is important to people like
8:17	·	Senator Cruz of Texas. And as far as the
8:20	·	ISS is concerned, well, there's a lot of
8:23	·	people who maintain the operations of
8:26	·	that space station too in Houston. And
8:29	·	those very same people are going to be
8:31	·	enabling the operation of the lunar
8:33	·	gateway after the demise of the ISS. So,
8:37	·	it's all about keeping their jobs as
8:40	·	well. So, as far as Congress is
8:42	·	concerned, all of this is a job creation
8:45	·	engine. It really doesn't have anything
8:48	·	to do with whether or not it's a good
8:51	·	idea to keep these systems. But in any
8:54	·	event, as I said, it's still probably
8:57	·	the best thing. But what annoys me the
8:59	·	most is the fact that the recent
9:02	·	Government Accountability Office report
9:05	·	on Artemis shows that once again, it's
9:08	·	coming in over budget and behind
9:10	·	schedule. And virtually all of the media
9:13	·	ignored this story except for Aviation
9:16	·	Week. So, I'm going to go ahead and
9:17	·	quote extensively from their article on
9:20	·	the topic. Quote, "Most of NASA's major
9:23	·	programs are on schedule and within 15%
9:26	·	of their budgets." That's great. But the
9:29	·	AY's flagship initiative to expand human
9:32	·	presence into deep space under the
9:34	·	Aremis program continues multi-billion
9:37	·	dollar cost overruns. According to the
9:40	·	US Government Accountability Office, the
9:42	·	GAO determined that 14 of 18 NASA
9:46	·	projects assessed were within cost and
9:49	·	schedule margins during fiscal 20125,
9:52	·	but four programs led by the Orion Deep
9:55	·	Space Crew Capsule are over budget by a
9:58	·	total of nearly $500 million. Of that,
10:02	·	Orion alone accounted for more than $360
10:06	·	million in cost overruns. According to
10:09	·	the GAO's report, which was submitted on
10:12	·	July 1st, the cost spike was primarily
10:15	·	due to technical issues stemming from
10:17	·	the capsule's November 16th to December
10:20	·	11th, 2022 uncrrewed flight test around
10:23	·	the moon, which revealed unexpected heat
10:26	·	shield erosion. That investigation
10:29	·	sparked delays in the followon Aremis 2
10:31	·	crude flight test, currently targeted
10:34	·	for April of 2026. quote, "They really
10:38	·	needed some time to figure out what
10:39	·	happened after Artemis 1 in terms of the
10:42	·	integrity of the heat shield and what
10:44	·	the possible solutions would be." And
10:46	·	that's according to William Russell,
10:48	·	director of GAO contracting and national
10:51	·	security acquisitions. NASA also added
10:54	·	some new requirements such as docking
10:56	·	capability, which further hike costs. So
10:59	·	when it comes right down to it, yeah,
11:01	·	it's understandable as to why Orion went
11:04	·	over budget, but still it's just another
11:07	·	cost increase on top of so many that
11:10	·	have happened thus far. Whereas the vast
11:12	·	majority of NASA's programs came in at
11:16	·	budget or just slightly overbudget as we
11:19	·	really want government programs to do.
11:22	·	That's the kind of performance that we
11:24	·	want to see. So for its latest report,
11:26	·	the GAO reviewed 53 major NASA programs,
11:31	·	those with an expected life cycle cost
11:33	·	of more than a quarter of a billion
11:34	·	dollars dating back to 2009 to assess
11:38	·	NASA's historical performance. Of those,
11:41	·	at least 30 were developed at or near
11:43	·	their cost estimates, which the GAO
11:46	·	determined to be less than 15% over
11:49	·	budget. So way more than 50% of their
11:52	·	programs pretty much came in at the cost
11:55	·	that they were expected to come in at.
11:57	·	The rest required rescoping, new budget
11:59	·	baselines, and/or additional money to
12:01	·	complete. Most of the budget busters
12:04	·	were in the Aremis portfolio. Quote,
12:07	·	"Those accounted for pretty much the
12:09	·	same amount of cost increase as the rest
12:11	·	of the completed projects in NASA's
12:14	·	entire portfolio." unquote. That once
12:17	·	again, according to Russell, the GAO
12:20	·	determined that 48 nonartemis projects
12:23	·	had cost overruns totaling about 8.1
12:26	·	billion and five Artemis projects of 48
12:30	·	versus five were overbudget by almost $7
12:34	·	billion. It shows the outsized impacts
12:38	·	of some of those Artemis projects and
12:40	·	the level of complexity. Russell said
12:42	·	the scale of the efforts are pretty big.
12:44	·	So when changes come to those programs
12:46	·	or delays occur, it really adds up. I
12:49	·	don't care about the excuses. Artemis
12:52	·	came in way over budget. A lot of NASA's
12:55	·	other programs didn't. My point is the
12:58	·	vast majority of those programs are now
13:00	·	being cut. the programs that behaved
13:03	·	fiscally responsibly. Everybody
13:06	·	responsible for those, the workers,
13:08	·	everybody else put in so much effort to
13:10	·	bring in those projects at budget or
13:13	·	perhaps slightly above. And now they're
13:16	·	being rewarded by losing their damn
13:18	·	jobs. And the programs that were the
13:21	·	least fiscally responsible just got
13:23	·	another $10 billion in funding. It sends
13:28	·	entirely the wrong message to the
13:30	·	government and it's no way to reduce
13:33	·	spending or to increase efficiency in
13:36	·	the US government. It's very very
13:39	·	annoying and I'm tired of ranting about
13:42	·	it and I think it's time for me to just
13:44	·	get back to bed now. Thank you very much
13:47	·	for watching. Please don't forget to
13:49	·	like and subscribe. I think it seems
13:51	·	that Sunline decided to keep the store
13:53	·	open for one more day through the end of
13:55	·	the weekend. So, if you want a NASA
13:58	·	budget cut suck t-shirt, seems that a
14:01	·	couple of people actually picked them up
14:03	·	yesterday, well, you probably have today
14:05	·	to get those purchased. And then we'll
14:07	·	be shutting the store down tomorrow and
14:10	·	I'll let you know when it's going to
14:12	·	come available again. Thanks very much
14:14	·	for everybody who decided to support all
14:16	·	of that. So, until next time, folks, I
14:19	·	urge all of you to stay angry about
14:23	·	space.
14:27	·	[Music]

[SunkenCiv]

• Orion Tops GAO Roundup Of NASA's Biggest Cost Overruns
  Irene Klotz | Aviation Week | July 01, 2025

[SunkenCiv]

Whoops, sorry, I loused up one of the links up top. Corrected version, including one other formatting change and a correction to the text from the original author:

Attention Spaceflight enthusiasts! As you may know, the US Senate just saved SLS, Orion and Gateway with a $10 billion investment. What you may not know, is that a recent GAO report revealed that those programs are even more over budget than we thought! And meanwhile, the fiscally responsible NASA programs are getting cut! 

Congress saves over budget SLS and Gateway,
cuts fiscally responsible NASA programs! | 14:42 
The Angry Astronaut | 198K subscribers | 14,018 views | July 6, 2025

[Mr. Lucky]

Have you ever thought of switching to decaf?

[SunkenCiv]

I don’t drink coffee, but that remarke is better directed at The Angry Astronaut. His presentation has improved a lot over the years, too.

[rktman]

Last shuttle flight was July 2011. Since then? Left two astro-naughts stuck on the station...... Not too good a track record. Had Musk not decided to do rockets, the rooskies would still be our only access......

[protoconservative]

The remote probes that do the majority of science 70+ years in space discovery cost nothing close to a billion dollars over 15 years. There are 4 1 billion dollar observatories in space or soon to be in space at any time. Musk given enough broadband income will be driving manned flight forward until a another company catches him on LEO and geosych delivery. 3% of the department of defense is space weather and nav, add department of interior, homeland, CIA, NRO 3% of total government ultimately is space based program of some type.

Are we spending enough, only the earth killing asteroid countdown clock knowns?

[PIF]

NASA’s already tiny budget was slashed to $18.8 billion, the lowest since 1961 [ before any manned missions ].

NASA Science took the brunt of the cuts with a 47% budget decrease. Most of what was saved from NASA’s overall budget when to the SLS and Orion, plus other parts went to the Space Force in a huge waste and duplication of missions and programs. Those parts were saved by Ted Cruz bnecuse they effected Texas. Had he not, NASA’s budget would have been even smaller.

SLS and Orion [ whenever it will fly ] will do one mission to orbit the Moon, and then that too is cancelled. There is no plan to actually land on the Moon, and there is no Lunar Lander design/build program.

How did this budget come to exist?
A) Poor leadership from both within and without NASA. Mostly a total lack of direction from past Presidents [ except GW Bush’s ‘Moon to Mars’ initiative which died in Congress ]. And the poor selection of Agency Directors - most of whom were political hacks.

B) The Director of the (OMB) is Russell Vought, who has long sought to eliminate NASA, recommended the budget cuts to Congress - there was no input from NASA or any other interested party. Congress accepted the cuts, and 47 sighed them into law.

Result of this mess [ which might have been cleaned up had 47 not thrown a fit about his Republican nominee, Jared Isaacman, donations to some Democrats ] is that the US space program is essential walking dead. Now there is some gal running the show - likely, very likely, no better than Nelson & maybe far worse as she is only a temp.

This mess gives China a free hand to take the Lunar South Pole and begin to militarily colonize the Moon.

other Angry links
Save NASA! Science budget cuts don’t help anyone!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1L_g1NtaS5E

Could Trump put SpaceX out of business? Will ruining Elon Musk save us “big money?”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L24Lj6buEGc

[ConservativeMind]

Angry is, well, angry.

I've been seeing Angry’s threads posted lately, and I've come to the conclusion he needs to get a life.

Some of what is stated is not valid.

[PIF]

SpaceX’s StarShip will not be driving any manned space flights for at least 10 years, if not more. There are simply too many problems that have to be overcome before StarShip v2 is perfected, let alone the v3 version. Then, there is the whole man-rating business that has to be done on the whole works. Then all of that has to be tested together, ans so on.

After Artemis 3 gets the Orion capsule to lunar orbit, the Artemis program is cancelled, and the field open to China to militarily colonize the lunar South Pole - where the water is. Then, you can learn to speak Chinese, if you want a job on the cutting edge of space missions.

Might be a good idea anyway, since US politicians seem to be fixated on smelling their socks.

[PIF]

Some of what is stated is not valid.

—
Which parts are not valid in your estimation?

[MMusson]

NASA couldn’t get off the pad must less to the moon. The SLS is a money pit. So is Orion. Why not just send Boeing a blank check.

[SunkenCiv]

The GWB Constellation program got called back from the brink of burial, survived to do one launch, then died, thanks to Obama and his political hack appointee and his ability to play Congress like a bad violin.

NASA’s best work has always been done by its contractors, but so has its worst. As protoconservative noted, the best science has always been the result of crewless missions — although I’d add that the Apollo landings would actually lead the list.

The road not taken would have been to do science including a bunch of sample return missions using robots, but it probably wouldn’t have saved a dime, and wouldn’t have been able to garner the public support that King Kennedy (a former coworker’s term, he was in the Navy and offshore of Cuba during both the Bay of Pigs and the Missile Crisis) managed to by his “before this decade is out” move.

Speaking of throwing a hissy (and wearing a crown), Musk has resumed sounded like the social liberal he has always been, and his spinout was caused by the withdrawal of Isaacman from consideration. IOW, Trump called it right. Even if Isaacman’s app’t had gone through, it would have led to a constant drumbeat about how Musk had gotten a puppet in charge at NASA.

And Isaacman’s job would have been to recommend cuts. And he would have. And the big projects would have been on the block, but it wouldn’t look like it was because they needed to be.

Instead, NASA’s still around, Ted Cruz takes the rap for the budget shift, the GAO can kiss everyone’s ass, and Ron Desantis will be the next Republican POTUS, with a lot of help from Elon Musk (assuming he calms the **** down and gets back in his lane. His Starship project has been circling the maelstrom harder than that ship in the Edgar Allen Poe story, and it’s just about done).

[PIF]

Here’s one example of what the anti-science OMB director recommended cut: Osiris Rex, a $850 million mission to investigate asteroids, as it did Benu, could, for $15 million, fly by Aphopis when it passes by Earth at 15 million miles - cut, gone. A new mission to do the same thing would cost $250 million.

Science missions which were either on budget, or just slightly over, were cut with the people who worked hard to accomplish their mission are fired; while Artemis, which is way over budget and behind schedule, is likely to cost $2.5 billion per shot, gets rewarded. And then cancelled.

The Real Reason NASA Won’t Have a Leader for a Year
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jy-Uz7nQ3xo

[PIF]

Turns out that NASA is not the only area being gutted, US ocean research programs are also going away.

And like space, China is taking over - building all sorts of missions and bases.

[ConservativeMind]

Why does the US need to fund this basic science for the world, exactly? Is there any point at which even someone like you can say this potential basic science needs to stop being government funded and, instead, be privately funded, or done by other countries?

Basic science is just something China takes and makes something from, cheaply, while owning 50% of any company not already 100% wholly-owned by China.

The US directly funds China’s science needs and lets China profit then profit handsomely.

If something is worth $15 million, like Aphopis fly-bys, then there are plenty of wealthy people who could fund that. There are crowd-sourcing websites to gather that money from people around the world, as well.

[ConservativeMind]

Again, “missions and bases” are not the “science” you are demanding. They are terraforming actions we can already do, but don’t, because it’s not profitable or politically appropriate.

The US just gives up information gathered for the world to use. China does not.

The US is not the world’s basic science monkey.

[PIF]

You are anti-US science that is obvious, and you do not understand the term ‘mission’ which you conflate, somehow, with terraforming - something no one is attempting. Please run back to your Russian masters for a refresher course.

[PIF]

You are again showing your anti-American bias. Please run home.

[ConservativeMind]

You Gay Zzlenskyy Pen-s Piano Players can never answer even the most basic questions, like I asked.

When you’ve seen one Gay Zzlenskyy Pen-s Piano Player, you’ve seen them all.