[WMarshal]

The Artemis Space Launch System (SLS) is a jobs program for government nerds. I expect another inexplicable delay. After all it is government work.

[OHPatriot]

Are these the same nerds who have the Saturn V boosters and can’t figure out how to make them work. The most powerful engines ever and from the ‘60s and today’s nerds are clueless. I heard they were trying to test the engines, but had issues.

[Phlyer]

The Artemis Space Launch System (SLS) is a jobs program for government nerds.

Back in the late 80's NASA decided to develop a Crew Recovery Vehicle for emergency return from the ISS. The idea was that they could put more astronauts (and cosmonauts) on the ISS if they could get more of them off in a hurry - without waiting for whenever the next Shuttle launch was scheduled.

Instead of doing like they had done on Apollo and having aerospace companies do the designs, within NASA requirements, NASA decided to do the requirements, design, fabrication, and test itself.

It never went anywhere. (Actually, I saw an incomplete prototype structural shell about half built.) NASA had already - back then - become a bloated bureaucracy that couldn't make a decision in the first place, nor stick to a decision that somehow happened to be made in spite of them.

SLS is another case of the same sort of thing - way too much involvement in the actual nuts and bolts decisions by "nerd" NASA engineers, and not enough "get out of the way" of aerospace companies that actually know how to run a hardware program.

That's not to say that the contractors are always perfect in either design or execution, but somewhere in their ranks are going to be managers that feel a real pressure to make a schedule (since contracts usually have a hefty incentive to do so), as opposed to NASA engineers who are feeding at a government trough without any real limits.

[jarwulf]

SLS exists just so they can pretend to have something just in case starship turns into a dumpster fire. Also to get as much pork in before commercial eats their lunch.