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posted by Fnord666 on Monday October 15 2018, @11:18PM   Printer-friendly
from the ouch! dept.

Elon Musk pegs SpaceX BFR program at $5B as NASA's rocket booster nears $5B in cost overruns

[Compared] to Boeing's first serious 2014 contract for the SLS Core Stages – $4.2B to complete Core Stages 1 and 2 and launch EM-1 in Nov. 2017 – the company will ultimately end up 215% over-budget ($4.2B to $8.9B) and ~40 months behind schedule (42 months to 80+ months from contract award to completion). Meanwhile, as OIG notes, NASA has continued to give Boeing impossibly effusive and glowing performance reviews to the tune of $323 million in "award fees", with grades that would – under the contracting book NASA itself wrote – imply that Boeing SLS Core Stage work has been reliably under budget and ahead of schedule (it's not).

[...] Boeing – recently brought to light as the likely source of a spate of egregiously counterfactual op-eds published with the intention of dirtying SpaceX's image – also took it upon itself to sponsor what could be described as responses to NASA OIG's scathing October 10th SLS audit. Hilariously, a Politico newsletter sponsored by Boeing managed to explicitly demean and belittle the Apollo-era Saturn V rocket as a "rickety metal bucket built with 1960s technology", of which Boeing was very tenuously involved thanks to its eventual acquisition of companies that actually built Saturn and sent humans to the Moon.

At the same time, that newsletter described SLS as a rocket that will be "light years ahead of thespacecraft [sic] that NASA astronauts used to get to the moon 50 years ago." At present, the only clear way SLS is or will be "light years" ahead – as much a measure of time as it is of distance – of Saturn V is by continuing the rocket's trend of endless delays. Perhaps NASA astronomers will soon be able to judge exactly how many "light years ahead" SLS is by measuring the program's redshift or blueshift with one of several ground- and space-based telescopes.

Here's a typical Boeing shill response (archive) to the NASA Inspector General report.

See also: Will the US waste $100+ billion on SLS, Orion and LOP-G by 2030?

Previously: Maiden Flight of the Space Launch System Delayed to 2019 (now delayed to June 2020, likely 2021)
First SLS Mission Will be Unmanned
After the Falcon Heavy Launch, Time to Defund the Space Launch System?
NASA's Chief of Human Spaceflight Rules Out Use of Falcon Heavy for Lunar Station
House Spending Bill Offers NASA More Money Than the Agency or Administration Wanted
NASA Administrator Ponders the Fate of SLS in Interview
There's a New Report on SLS Rocket Management, and It's Pretty Brutal


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  • (Score: 5, Funny) by bob_super on Tuesday October 16 2018, @12:52AM (2 children)

    by bob_super (1357) on Tuesday October 16 2018, @12:52AM (#749322)

    "Why be on time if you're paid more when you're late?" - Anonymous Government Contractor Inc

    Starting Score:    1  point
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    Extra 'Funny' Modifier   0  
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   5  
  • (Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 16 2018, @01:07AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 16 2018, @01:07AM (#749328)

    "No." It's a simple - yet powerful - word. Yet, despite this, the latest generations did not grasp this word's meaning, having never been told, "No." This has resulted in an entire generation of people who are whiny, entitled, and do not understand boundaries.

    This is all too simple to see, but what is less simple is envisioning a real solution to the problem. If the newer generations' parents aren't going to teach them boundaries, then who will? Schools? The government? No. Since neither schools nor the government could accomplish it, the difficult task of guiding the new generations down the right path was left to men like Warrenson.

    Warrenson. He was a man who was profoundly concerned about the future. In fact, no one spent more time thinking about the future and worrying about future generations than Warrenson. That was ultimately the reason why he was currently standing before that little girl: To teach her the meaning of discipline.

    Discipline. It was something that this bratty little girl clearly did not comprehend. Her former actions proved this, which was why Warrenson had no choice but to instill a sense of boundaries and discipline within her. And he was an iron-willed man who would follow through on his word.

    "Take this! And this!" Warrenson bellowed, as he slammed his genitals deep inside her. She screamed and cried for him to stop, but that was merely a sign that his lesson was working. "How dare you! How dare you!" the man screeched. Indeed, her actions had been extremely offensive; it was to the point where most people would have vomited on sight. So, what heinous deeds did the little girl perpetrate that caused Warrenson to experience such wrath? She had stuck her tongue out at him.

    "How dare you rebel against men," Warrenson spat out, as he slammed her in the back with his mallet. "And how dare you mother raise you this way," the man continued. Yes, her mother was indeed a bad parent, which was why Warrenson had snuck up behind her and bashed her brains out with his trusty mallet. Now that she was out of the picture, he could focus on guiding the little girl down the proper path. Or, that had been the plan, anyway. The sound of something slumping down onto the concrete was heard.

    Broken. The little girl had simply broke. First, she had the audacity to oppose men, and then she dared to turn into a lifeless puppet during Warrenson's valuable lesson, effectively spitting in the face of his kindness! Unbelievable. Though Warrenson was furious, this was such a common occurrence with the new generations that he could not feel too angry. Instead, he simply tossed the girl and her mother into a nearby dumpster and went on his way.

    That's right; he had no time to dwell on those wretched pieces of trash. There were plenty more children who were in need of Warrenson's guidance, after all...

  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by DannyB on Tuesday October 16 2018, @02:29PM

    by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday October 16 2018, @02:29PM (#749539) Journal

    There is no Sad But True mod.

    --
    People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.