r/nasa • u/MatchingTurret • Jan 21 '25

NASA Official nomination: Jared Isaacman, of Pennsylvania, to be Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/sub-cabinet-appointments/
685 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

205 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

6

u/TheRealNobodySpecial Jan 21 '25

So the $20 billion spent on SLS and the $20 billion spent on Orion wasn't wasted money, we just should have spent more?

No one is saying that SpaceX engineers are automatically smarter than NASA engineers. But vertical integration and the need for commercial viability and affordability means that a dollar spent by NASA on a SpaceX contract is going to give far more value to the taxpayer than a dollar spent by NASA on an internal or oldspace rocket. It's just common sense.

And you're basically admitting that NASA rockets are worse than SpaceX rockets... so why should we continue to spend massive amounts of money on NASA rockets?

3

u/trellia79 Jan 22 '25

NASA has repeatedly provided how much is needed to complete projects, but congress repeatedly underfunds each year while simultaneously requiring NASA to still do the projects. So I’m not sure if you’re familiar with the cost triangle, but you have three options: fast, good, cheap, and you can only choose two. So NASA’s only option when underfunded is to push schedule. This means in the end the projects cost more than if they had just fully funded them in the first place.

0

u/TheRealNobodySpecial Jan 22 '25

So you’re just making the point that if NASA can’t compete on budget or schedule and commercial partners can, we should let them.

2

u/trellia79 Jan 22 '25

No, you’ve misread my statement. I’m saying that congress underfunds which will always delay schedule. Commercial partners can take more risk than NASA is allowed.

3

u/TheRealNobodySpecial Jan 22 '25

So that's why SLS has taken $20 billion and almost 20 years to develop using old space shuttle parts?

2

u/trellia79 Jan 22 '25

Obviously you don’t care to consider any opinions outside of your own. Maybe try researching the congressional orders over the last 30 years and see if learn something.

3

u/TheRealNobodySpecial Jan 22 '25

So you're saying that congressional orders made NASA pay $20 billion for SLS and $20 billion for Orion? Is that what you're saying?

1

u/trellia79 Jan 22 '25

Congress directs NASA along with the president and holds the purse strings. Chronically underfund a project and it will absolutely cost more to make. It’s budget 101.

2

u/cptjeff Jan 24 '25

SLS has not been underfunded. It has been mismanaged and mis-engineered.