Charlie Bolden says the quiet part out loud: SLS rocket will go away

"In an interview with Politico published Friday morning in the publication's Space
newsletter, Bolden was asked what might happen during the next four years.

“SLS will go away," he said. "It could go away during a Biden administration or a
next Trump administration… because at some point commercial entities are going to
catch up. They are really going to build a heavy lift launch vehicle sort of like
SLS that they will be able to fly for a much cheaper price than NASA can do SLS.
That’s just the way it works.�

Bolden remains a popular and influential voice in the space community, but he no
longer has a direct say in US space policy. Perhaps because he no longer has to
answer to Congress for NASA budgets, he is also free to speak his mind. In any
case, his comments reflect the general sentiment in the space community—at least
outside of the traditional contractors like Boeing and Northrop Grumman who
directly benefit from SLS development—that the SLS rocket will eventually go
away."

See:

https://arstechnica.com/science/2020...-will-go-away/

In article ,
says...

"In an interview with Politico published Friday morning in the publication's Space
newsletter, Bolden was asked what might happen during the next four years.

?SLS will go away," he said. "It could go away during a Biden administration or a
next Trump administration? because at some point commercial entities are going to
catch up. They are really going to build a heavy lift launch vehicle sort of like
SLS that they will be able to fly for a much cheaper price than NASA can do SLS.
That?s just the way it works.?

Bolden remains a popular and influential voice in the space community, but he no
longer has a direct say in US space policy. Perhaps because he no longer has to
answer to Congress for NASA budgets, he is also free to speak his mind. In any
case, his comments reflect the general sentiment in the space community?at least
outside of the traditional contractors like Boeing and Northrop Grumman who
directly benefit from SLS development?that the SLS rocket will eventually go
away."

See:

https://arstechnica.com/science/2020...-will-go-away/

He's right you know. Artemis only "needs" SLS to launch Orion. All
other Artemis launches will be on commercial launch vehicles.

Something coming to fruition like a crew carrying Starship negates the
"need" for both SLS and Orion.

Jeff
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On 9/11/2020 12:55 PM, wrote:
"In an interview with Politico published Friday morning in the publication's Space
newsletter, Bolden was asked what might happen during the next four years.

“SLS will go away," he said.

Orange rocket bad.

Dave