NASA Artemis II SLS stacking continues, keeping an eye out for budget request plans
Preparations for NASA’s Artemis II lunar flyby mission lead this week’s recap. Stacking of the SLS vehicle in the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center is almost complete, and the last element to be lifted for a while, the in-space second stage, is now standing in the transfer aisle.
I’ll go over that and also continuing reviewing last week’s budget news, NASA Administrator nomination hearing in the Senate, and where those intersected. Big picture, if Congress wants to beat China back to the Moon and use Orion and SLS to help do that, then there will be even more focus on when Artemis III can fly…assuming the White House agrees, which remains a big question.
Imagery is courtesy of NASA, except where noted.
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00:00 Intro
00:50 Artemis II update, beginning with SLS LVSA hard mate to the Core Stages
03:07 ICPS moves to the VAB for stacking
04:53 Artemis II Orion Stage Adapter seen in Huntsville recently
05:32 Status of Artemis II Orion spacecraft final assembly
07:58 B-roll video released of Artemis II SLS Core Stage lifting and mating activities in March
10:10 Political news and notes, more takeaways from Jared Isaacman’s hearing before Congress
23:47 A look at the big picture, all eyes on Artemis III, assuming it isn’t cancelled
27:24 What’s next in April
28:01 Thanks for watching!
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No worry, chinese will build base on the moon. Trump will bankrupt the US, you will have no money to continue the "program"
Always thorough, well researched and excellent. Thank you!
issacmans dodging of so many questions really cut down my confidence in him, which was very high prior because of everything hes done. I hope he doesnt end up getting absorbed into the endless scandals of this administration, at the very minimum i hope we dont see an IssacCoin.
Artemis III watch items? Musk's Starship HLS that's it. Cancel that useless lander and focus on a flight to the Lunar Gateway. Good way to save money and not funding billionaires' dreams of colonizing Mars
sadly we are 36 trillion in debt and all agencies are gonna take a hit, its the price we have to pay for all the bloody borrowing this country has done
still amazing to me that we have a rocket being built by the people who took us to the moon 70 years ago being able to take off maybe once per 2 years (if we're lucky) at a rock bottom price of 1 billion per launch. Gene Krantz must be in a severe state of depression.
22:54 – that girl in the background to the left of Isaacman, is that his daughter?
lol it takes years wtf
This entire program is a gigantic waste of money. Private Industry has proven they can do it better, cheaper and faster. There's absolutely no reason to be wasting this much money on a non-reusable rocket. None.
If they launch this pos they are throwing money away. This program should be canceled.
It's an insult no matter what they do. All the money they wasted or stolen is still wasted or stolen. The guaranteed total lack of accountability would be a punctuation mark on its cancellation, and if they did continue it and did bother to actually carry out a mission, it would be a meal served in a toilet bowl with a check the size of god's utility bill.
Amazing Pentagon had 1 trillion and NASA not even 25 billions 😢
Consolidating NASA offices is poltically unprofitable but would be more efficient in terms of cost and operational effectiveness.
It’s got to be incredibly confusing being a democrat. You all are on a witch hunt for Isaacman (and obviously Elon) – both of which were your heroes a few short months ago.
You’re switching the narrative around to “omg, Trump and his appointee are going to kill Artemis and SLS!” …after complaining NONSTOP in every NASA video for the last 10 years about how NASA is “over-funded and a huge waste of money thanks to The pioneering efforts of SpaceX and Elon – fund SpaceX, not NASA!”
So, complete 180 on that – AND you all are forgetting that your boy Obama set NASA back about 15-20 years by cancelling Constellation.
What gives? Do you actually have any core beliefs about ANY of this stuff? Or do you just chase the narrative all day long. 🤦♂️
Hi Philip. Are there any updates on Blue Origin's lander or the later atrimas launches?
space refueling ( large amounts ) has never been demonstrated. You fans of it better read up on precession of orbits……. it is a big deal.
Land by 2024 ?? 2034 ???
I might be too old to see another moon landing…………… but I really hope to see the real Artemis 2 fly, as planned………that will be pretty darn good.
Gran video y excelente audio en español. Gracias
now we sacrifice science in exchange for this dick measuring contest with china that we're going to lose anyways because of the moronic Artemis architecture and SLS… 👏 MERICA