White House Post-Launch Commentary
Remarks by President Trump at Kennedy Space Center
“Today, the groundbreaking partnership between NASA and SpaceX has given our nation the gift of an unmatched power: a state-of-the art spaceship to put our astronauts into orbit at a fraction of the cost of the Space Shuttle. And it’s much better. From now on, the United States will leverage the fast-growing capabilities of our commercial sector and the finest pieces of real estate on Earth — which you need very badly — to send U.S. astronauts into space. Under NASA’s Commercial Crew program, we will use rockets and spacecraft designed, built, owned, and launched by private American companies, at a fixed price for the American taxpayer. Today’s launch makes clear the commercial space industry is the future. The modern world was built by risk-takers and renegades, fierce competitors, skilled craftsmen, captains of industry who pursued opportunities no one else saw and envisioned what no one else could ever think of seeing. The United States will harness the unrivaled creativity and speed of our private sector to stride ever further into the unknown.” [larger image]
Remarks by Vice President Pence at Kennedy Space Center Cape Canaveral, FL
“And in that spirit, today we begin a new era of human space exploration. And the credit goes to dedicated men and women all across this country, to the ingenuity and the hard work of the entire NASA team. America is proud of the men and women of NASA. (Applause.) But for the first time in our history, our astronauts have taken to the skies on a commercial rocket built by America’s private sector. So join me in a vigorous round of applause for Elon Musk and the dedicated men and women of SpaceX. Job well done. (Applause.) That’s great. Well deserved. (Applause.) Thanks, Elon.” [larger image]
There was a lot of great stuff in Trump’s comments: promoting commercial space, supporting deregulation, championing reduced costs, cheerleading a bright future for America in space.
But many people will be triggered by other things Trump said about the military, for them to see the good.
Trump may be a carnival barker, but he is also the most pro-NASA pro-Space U.S. President since the 1960s.
Trump could possibly end up as the first politician who will finally stand up to say that the SLS costs too much, that the ’emperor wears no clothes’, and make it stick.
Be careful what you wish for; publicity on SLS is about that last thing NASA needs (the American taxpayers having a different set of needs). The Administrator has perfectly positioned SLS; it will die on its own, sad as that might be, at least in part.
How or why would SLS “die on its own”? SLS will work, it just won’t be worth the cost. Sound familiar? Because that sounds to me just like the Space Shuttle program.
SLS was crafted in large part to keep the workforce employed that sustained the Shuttle. Shuttle lasted decades despite its high cost. Why wouldn’t SLS last decades too, despite its high cost?
The evidence is plain that too-expensive boondoggles can persist for decades in NASA, if Congress is happy with the pork.
Fair question.
And from the outset, I’d postulate that SLS is a very fine and robust launcher system. Technical merit is strong, but cost is awful.
It’s the politics surrounding SLS that’s keeping the program alive. And that being the case, nobody is willing to fall on their sword in order to kill the program. In fact, I wonder exactly who would have sufficient political capital to make such a thing happen, even were the political career expendable. There’s room for mirthful political prognostication on that.
However, the Administrator recently let slip though that in future lunar adventures by NASA, other boosters could be part of a competition. It seemed almost off-hand at the time, at least to me, and did not go unnoticed by Keith.
The point is that once SLS is in a one-on-one competition with other systems able to do the job, SLS will be, as they say, a sittin’ duck. That’s all the Administrator had to do, and without expending politics capital.
The Congress could, as they have done in the past, specify the use of SLS in whatever event they wish. Future events could be crafted in a way that would eliminate any other booster system, too. That could happen.
But as of today, the Administrator has different ideas.