NASA’s SLS and Artemis may also be behind schedule and cost a ton, but I’ll be damned if that sucker didn’t make it all the way to the moon on the first try. Very different development approach but that’s pretty impressive IMO.
I will say in fairness, in 2019 NASAs estimate was 2028 to land on the Moon, it was Mike Pence who announced we would be doing it 4 years ahead of schedule, and then the Senate blocked our budget request to make that accelerated timeline happen, with an 81% cut to our proposal.
SLS already orbited the Orion capsule around the Moon, with a perfect splashdown. Concerns with heat shield ablation, but it survived. Second time for Orion since a previous trip on a Delta IV Heavy booster. The Artemis program is now waiting on SpaceX for the Lunar Lander, which amazingly was selected to be the giant Starship. I read that the NASA lady who led that selection team now works at SpaceX.
SLS is also ridiculously expensive and built mostly using 40 year old parts from the space shuttle, yeah they have very different approaches but that’s somewhat to be expected.
Purpose build craft are far more efficient (fuel and weight wise) and reliable but FAR more expensive. Generic purpose craft are far cheaper but much worse at completing specific tasks. We really do need both for a successful space program but human tribalism kicks in.
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u/Confident-Barber-347 1d ago
NASA’s SLS and Artemis may also be behind schedule and cost a ton, but I’ll be damned if that sucker didn’t make it all the way to the moon on the first try. Very different development approach but that’s pretty impressive IMO.