NASA's plans to return astronauts to the Moon are turning out to be a disaster.
The first crewed trip to the moon was supposed to take place in 2024. The Artemis program will likely be pushed back by two years according to a Tuesday status update.
NASA is facing a growing budget crisis when it comes to its ambitions to return the first astronauts to the Moon since the 1970s. The plan was to have Boeing and Lockheed Martin develop the Space Launch System, an expensive heavy launch system and a lunar exploration vessel.
deadlines are flying by and costs are soaring.
One of the problems we saw in development of the SLS and Orion is a challenging development, according to NASA inspector general Paul Martin.
He said there was poor planning, poor execution and the cost plus contracts that NASA had been using to develop the combined SLS and Orion system worked to the contractor.
Poor project management and contract oversight were some of the things that Martin was not impressed with.
The inspector general told us that the SLS development is billions over budget and years behind schedule.
The system has cost $9.1 billion to date, and has been in development for over a decade. After many delays, NASA finally conducted the first successful test fire of its SLS core stage last month after a faulty controller forced the agency to delay a previous test.
It would cost $4.1 billion to return NASA astronauts to the Moon, with the first crewed launch likely to happen in 2026, according to Martin.
James Free, NASA's associate administrator of exploration systems development, as well as the chair of the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel, suggested that the launch could take place in 2025, at the very earliest.
NASA's efforts to return to the Moon are turning out to be more expensive than they were originally thought to be.
There is hope on the horizon in the shape of SpaceX's Starship. The company signed a contract with the agency to develop a lunar variant of its massive heavy launch system to return astronauts to the Moon within the next couple of years.
If Musk is to be believed, the cost per launch could be a small fraction of NASA's projected costs.
Is it too late for NASA to scrap the SLS? The space agency has many agreements with its contractors, and it is increasingly likely that it will not be able to back out.
The agency now has to convince Congress of its expensive and delayed plan, which is not a hot ticket item.
NASA officials are said to be Horrified that the spaceship may succeed.
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