I've been having some fun writing eerily reflective headlines on my Moon Monday newsletter about the clumsy progress of NASA’s SLS rocket that cost $23 billion.

• NASA’s Moon rocket crawls to the launchpad

• NASA’s Moon rocket just won’t move fast enough

• The SLS rocket’s wet dress rehearsal comes out dry

• NASA tightens its grip on SLS

• The launch tower that’s still an artist’s render

• NASA is sticking with the SLS rocket for Artemis IX and beyond

• NASA wants a SLS rocket to liftoff every year, eventually

• Artemis I Moon launch palpable at last

• The Sun isn’t rising for the SLS just yet

• A notorious hydrogen leak stops brimming SLS rocket from blasting off of Earth

• NASA wants the SLS rocket and its teams to withstand a storm

• NASA’s SLS rocket is on the launchpad again, hopefully for the last time

• NASA’s SLS rocket faced yet another storm

The SLS finally did launch the much-awaited Artemis I Moon mission, and that’s amazing, but my job as a space writer isn’t to be a blind cheerleader for whatever space agencies and research institutes say about their missions and programs. I also need to assess and inform people at large about if and how things are progressing, especially when taxpayer money is involved. I love NASA’s Artemis Moon plans overall but for a crufty rocket that’s not only years late but also billions of dollar over budget, some harsh reality checks are warranted.

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