Main Engine Cut OffGAO Report Indicates EM-2 Plans to Fly Crew
They also stated that they are currently developing a test plan, which includes examining the risk of performing only ground testing of the exploration upper stage because current plans do not allow for a separate flight test of the stage prior to EM-2.
Sounds like there’s been some internal debating, and the Astronaut Office must now be fine with flying EM-2 with the EUS without having flown previously, contrary to what I’ve been talking about this week regarding the future roadmap of SLS.
The sheer amount of conflicting reports and confusion surrounding these programs is not a good sign for their future.
The report the GAO released about Orion verifies some of the things I talked about in this week’s podcast, specifically regarding the future of that program. It’s quite an expensive, unpredictable program that’s building a spacecraft to take crew to and from LEO, and not much else.