🚀 NASA scrubs Artemis I launch today. Economics will scrub the rocket tomorrow.

Let's wish NASA well before we launch into a New Space Age driven by the private sector

A stressful and ultimately disappointing morning inside the Orion spacecraft for Helga, Zohar, and Commander Moonikin Campos. Minor (maybe) rocket engine issues and approaching bad weather meant NASA ran out of time for this morning’s scheduled Artemis I launch, which would carry those three test mannequins on a journey around the Moon and back. (Artemis II would carry four astronauts around the moon and back to Earth, with Artemis III landing astronauts via a SpaceX lander near the Moon’s south pole.)

Joey Roulette @joroulette

Sept. 2 is the next launch opportunity, but Friday's two-hour launch window opens in Florida's prime time for storms, and the engine issue that caused today's scrub might take more time to fully examine.

Julio-César Chávez @JulioCesrChavez

@joroulette What’s the next launch date? Or do they have to schedule the fixes first?

Of course, today’s scrub is hardly disappointing for some pro-space Artemis critics who prefer to scrub the project for reasons I’ll highlight in a moment. As for me: “Don’t hate the player, hate the game.”

That pretty much sums up my attitude toward NASA’s Space Launch System. The SLS is the mega-rocket, or “heavy launch vehicle,” that the space agency is currently using to return Americans to the Moon. Sitting atop the SLS is Orion, “the exploration vehicle that will carry the crew to space, provide emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during the space travel, and provide safe re-entry from deep space return velocities,” as NASA describes its capabilities. The whole thing stands 322 feet, and during ascent SLS will produce 15 percent more thrust than the Saturn V rocket of the Apollo era.

Pretty cool. Also, space enthusiasts kind of hate it. I mean, this isn’t a good sign: If you search online for “SLS” the first thing — after Google news and Twitter mentions — isn’t NASA’s “Space Launch System” site but “Specialized Loan Servicing,” a New York-based mortgage servicing company. I think this Twitter exchange between one of my wonderful followers and myself is illustrative:

James Pethokoukis @JimPethokoukis

If you're not excited by this, get yourself on the list for a heart transplant

NASA @NASA

🚀One rocket. One mission. Many ways to watch #Artemis I launch to the Moon. See the thread for simulcasts, including how to watch in 4K. Pick your favorite, set a reminder, and spread the word. The two-hour launch window opens at 8:33am EDT on Aug. 29. https://t.co/D9RaNE9Gfq

Paul Levitt @Dipsys_pal

@JimPethokoukis If you’re not excited by this, you may understand the opportunity cost of spending $50B developing a vehicle that costs $4B/flight, two years between flights and is completely expendable, instead of using cost effective commercial LVs.

Paul Levitt @Dipsys_pal

@JimPethokoukis I had dinner with a colleague who also works in the industry last night. The consensus of everyone we know who doesn’t depend on SLS for a paycheck is that the best case scenario is for SLS to pinwheel into the Atlantic.

Well, there was no pinwheeling today, but I get the sentiment. With all due respect to the engineers of Boeing/United Launch Alliance and NASA, the SLS is already an obsolete rocket whose roots are in the since-canceled Constellation program. It existed initially to keep funding and jobs flowing to certain districts and states. It actually precedes the Artemis program by six years. Here’s a good summary of that story from Lori Garver — via my podcast chat — previously deputy administrator of NASA during the Obama administration and author of the recently published Escaping Gravity: My Quest to Transform NASA and Launch a New Space Age.