Boeing plans to lay off hundreds of employees working on NASA's SLS moon rocket: reports

[Admin]

Boeing is preparing to lay off roughly 200 employees working on the Space Launch System rocket as it braces for the possibility that its contracts with NASA may not be renewed after they end in March.

Boeing plans to lay off hundreds of employees working on NASA's SLS moon rocket: reports : Read more

 

[billslugg]

Plenty of opportunity in the private sector. If not, start your own. You have seen your bosses show you how not to run a company.

 

[Unclear Engineer]

It never really made sense to me for Artemis to be dependent on the success of StarShip development. If Artemis was a complete program, where it was launching its own lander with perhaps a second SLS launch and rendezvous in lunar orbit, then I would think it wise to not terminate the SLS development before StarShip succeeds with in-space refueling and the other firsts needed to provide a lander for the Orion capsule crew.

But, that is not the case. If StarShip doesn't succeed, Artemis is not going to be able to put boots on the Moon, at least not until Blue Origin catches up with the other two development projects. However, once StarShip is successful, SLS really is no longer a necessary component for the Artemis Program.

But, as I posted before, I am warry of the situation where Musk is involved in so many other activities, including very political activities, that might somehow hamper his ability, or even his intent, to keep funding the StarShip development process and or its focus on the Moon instead of just Mars.

"Failure is not an option" is just loose talk - failure is a definite possibility.

To succeed, we need a good engineering plan and the resolve to keep following it through various political changes. That is something that the Chinese seem to be able to accomplish. But, the U.S. has been very politically fickle about its space programs. So, even if there is a decision today to have NASA switch to a SuperHeavy + StarShip (and maybe + Orion) strategy, the party-dominated politics of our U.S. political system suggests that program plan could be scrapped within 4, or maybe even 2 years from now, because of the political affiliations of Musk.

It is very easy to be destructive - much harder to be constructive.

 

[trailrider]

It is obvious that StarShip+SuperHeavy must be successfully brought to operation before cancellation of SLS+Orion+Gateway could be done. IF the former can be brought to operational certification, including whatever configurations would be necessary (refueling in LEO, etc.), then from an operational standpoint, SLS is a poorer choice. Hopefully, even with all his other functions, Musk knows how to choose people who can bring about success of StarShip. If not, then our astronauts had better learn to speak Mandarin!
Ad Luna! Ad Ares! Ad Astra!

 

[bwana4swahili]

Boeing should just get back to designing/manufacturing viable airplanes. It is obvious they don't have the competence to design/build a spaceship.

 

[billslugg]

It's not a "space versus airplane" problem, it is a management problem. The engineers got taken over by the accountants. (See: "737 MAX")

 

[DrRaviSharma]

Even after 50+ years of Apollo of which I am a proud beneficiary I am sorry to see the waste of taxpayer resources by a select group of old stalwart companies that made Apollo Possible.

• Retiring Shuttle was premature making us dependent for nearly a decade
• Auditing wasted money on big contracts is futile. Competent Space experts can be pooled to sort and sift through pile to identify and ensure those subsystems that are viable when integrated in newer approaches parallel to those of SpaceX but we need to keep one alternative open while SpaceX (if not defocused by new responsibilities) makes advances as in past. Otherwise default alternative will be China? Starship is already slow in becoming cargo and human rated for cislunar space?
• What happens to Artemis signatories if the foundations are shaken, and confidence in our promise and continuity as seen globally.
• Can large corporations ride quietly without being accountable under the usual cost escalation excuse? What are checks and balances for long range investments necessary in defense space-force and commercial space assets?
• Pentagon, NASA, Large Industry players need to soul search and what happens to unused space Shuttle engines. etc. as proven assets?

More later...
regards