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New White House budget spells trouble for NASA's SLS rocket, Ars Technica
"Two sources familiar with the thinking of Vice President Mike Pence--who leads US space policy--have said he is frustrated with the slow pace of the nation's efforts to send humans to the Moon. In particular, he is growing tired of delays with NASA's Space Launch System rocket, which was originally due to launch in 2017 and is now likely delayed until 2021 at the earliest. ... With this proposal, therefore, NASA is taking away a key upgrade to the Space Launch System's upper stage, proposing to launch Gateway on commercial rockets, and removing a high-profile mission from the launch manifest--the Europa Clipper. This leaves just one real task for SLS, which no commercial rocket can presently perform: the direct delivery of a crewed Orion capsule to a high lunar orbit."
If @NASA was really intent upon using @NASA_SLS as a robust Moon/Mars exploration backbone they'd build the EUS as soon as possible to reduce the number of flights needed to build Gateway & make the most of every SLS flight. This rocket is now only semi-useful. #SecondThoughts?
— NASA Watch (@NASAWatch) March 11, 2019
