NASA calls Boeing’s SLS rocket essential for moon landings
Amid Boeing layoffs and cost concerns, NASA calls the SLS rocket crucial for Artemis missions, despite competition from SpaceX’s Starship for lunar exploration.
[:en]Photo: CNN[:]
After it emerged that Boeing plans to lay off about 400 employees for its Space Launch System program, NASA has called the SLS rocket “essential” to its Artemis lunar landing program, sowing confusion about what exactly could change for both the launch vehicle and Artemis in the coming days and weeks, reported by CNN.
NASA’s statement came amid widespread speculation that the SLS, which is set to make its flight debut in 2022, could be canceled. The moon rocket has been a major point of contention in the space community for years, with detractors calling the launch system, which is billions of dollars over budget, wasteful.
The rocket cost $23.8 billion to develop from 2011 until its first flight two years ago, compared with initial estimates of about $18 billion. In 2022, one oversight official estimated that the vehicle would cost more than $4 billion per launch for the first four Artemis missions.
Moon missions with Starship
These critics often argue that Elon Musk’s company, SpaceX, could fly missions to the moon at a much lower cost with Starship, the most powerful launch system ever built, which is still in the early stages of development. In December, former NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, the agency’s leader under Biden, was asked if he was concerned about speculation that the next administration would restructure Artemis or consider canceling the SLS rocket.
Canceling SLS also seemed politically intractable, as key lawmakers on Capitol Hill continued to fund and support the program. Supporters also argue that SLS has already been tested in space, orbiting the moon on its first flight in 2022. Meanwhile, the Starship launch system has yet to fly into orbit, and the spacecraft exploded in midair during a flight test in January. On Friday, however, Boeing, NASA’s prime contractor for the SLS rocket, said it could cut about 400 jobs (in the SLS program) by April 2025. The layoffs would be made to accommodate changes to the Artemis program and expected costs. NASA has not acknowledged any potential changes to the Artemis program, which began under the previous Trump administration and aims to return astronauts to the lunar surface as early as mid-2027, according to the space agency’s latest estimates.
Artemis lunar landing program
NASA and its industry partners are working together to assess and align budgets, resources, contractor work, and schedules to efficiently, safely, and successfully deliver mission requirements in support of NASA’s Artemis mission goals and objectives. NASA is reaching out to its industry contractors for additional information about their workforce. NASA has long said it plans to use the SLS rocket to power 10 or more Artemis missions, which will return humans to the lunar surface and establish a permanent lunar outpost.
SpaceX’s Starship is also set to play a role in the project. NASA has agreed to pay the company nearly $4 billion to carry astronauts on the final leg of the mission. The space agency aims to use the Starship spacecraft, the upper stage of SpaceX’s launch system, as a lander that will ferry them from the Orion spacecraft, which launches atop the SLS, to the lunar surface.
But the agreements between SpaceX and NASA are fixed, meaning the company won’t get any additional investment in Starship if the funds run out. But SpaceX will also retain ownership of the vehicle and be able to use it commercially. Boeing, meanwhile, is developing NASA’s SLS under a “cost-plus” contract, which has allowed the space agency’s costs to skyrocket as the project has suffered delays and development setbacks.
