Fun with serious SLS rocket headlines

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.

NASA’s SLS rocket, standing atop its mobile launcher, at Launch Pad 39B at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center on March 18, 2022. Credits: NASA / Kim Shiflett

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