“From an anthropological point of view the SLS and Orion are a fascinating set of artifacts, living embodiments of a mentality that supposes that a lunar landing would be possible if only the Moon were a little bit closer and had zero surface gravity. If only.”
The author gives an interesting history of their writing:
- “SLS: Is cancellation too good?”
- “SLS is still a national disgrace”.
- Dittemore’s Law: "after the Shuttle flight director whose fateful call sealed the fate of the seven astronauts who perished in the Columbia disaster."
and now,
- "NASA’s Orion Space Capsule Is Flaming Garbage"
What it tells me is that they are interested in click-bait, and nothing about the issues. Also, as with any discussion of these issues, it's almost impossible due to misinformation overload by SpaceX fans (which is really the point of misinformation - to prevent discussion).
Still cheaper and more bang for buck than propping up Argentina. Pretty low bar, admittedly.
“From an anthropological point of view the SLS and Orion are a fascinating set of artifacts, living embodiments of a mentality that supposes that a lunar landing would be possible if only the Moon were a little bit closer and had zero surface gravity. If only.”
An amazing critique. I've never read anything with so many "wtf?" and "omg!" moments.
The author gives an interesting history of their writing:
- “SLS: Is cancellation too good?”
- “SLS is still a national disgrace”.
- Dittemore’s Law: "after the Shuttle flight director whose fateful call sealed the fate of the seven astronauts who perished in the Columbia disaster."
and now,
- "NASA’s Orion Space Capsule Is Flaming Garbage"
What it tells me is that they are interested in click-bait, and nothing about the issues. Also, as with any discussion of these issues, it's almost impossible due to misinformation overload by SpaceX fans (which is really the point of misinformation - to prevent discussion).
If you have any criticisms of the specific claims made in the article, please present them.
Casey has plenty of positive articles on other topics. Maybe the Shuttle, SLS, and Orion are actually bad.
Mostly on Elon Musk though. Which supports the comment above, he's a spacex fanboy.
Casey formerly worked at JPL and has a PhD in Physics.
Unfortunately that can go either way (like "he just wants to shift funding from Huntsville to JPL").
How much is Lockheed paying these days?
Lori Garver, former NASA Deputy Administrator, has interesting additional context on the matter.
https://x.com/Lori_Garver/status/1985147604121092154
Why do neckbeards care so much about space? I mean, the meltdowns about "integrity" and "math" are fun, but I just don't get why they do it.