[hopespringseternal]

I submit that the answer is gross incompetence and stupidity at the highest levels of NASA, with trickle-down effects into the design,

This.

I recall when they were building the tanks for SLS they struggled mightily with welding pressure vessels, hardly a new or unique problem.

If they ever get there, it will have taken them three or four times as long to build a moon program and they started with existing hardware this time.

That level of incompetence is hard to wrap your head around.

[NorthMountain]

Don’t let Congress off the hook, here ... to a great extent, the kludge that is SLS was mandated by Congress in the legislation that authorized it.

I hope it flies. I hope it doesn’t kill anybody. And I hope it gets replaced. Soon.

The real lesson, here, is to let scientists experiment, engineers design, machinists fabricate without congressthings and bureaucrats telling them how to do it. And ... PLEASE ... To HELL with diversity, inclusion and equity!!!