![]() In any case, his comments reflect the general sentiment in the space community-at least outside of the traditional contractors like Boeing and Northrop Grumman who directly benefit from SLS development-that the SLS rocket will eventually go away. Perhaps because he no longer has to answer to Congress for NASA budgets, he is also free to speak his mind. That’s just the way it works.”īolden remains a popular and influential voice in the space community, but he no longer has a direct say in US space policy. They are really going to build a heavy lift launch vehicle sort of like SLS that they will be able to fly for a much cheaper price than NASA can do SLS. "It could go away during a Biden administration or a next Trump administration… because at some point commercial entities are going to catch up. In an interview with Politico published Friday morning in the publication's Space newsletter, Bolden was asked what might happen during the next four years. Meanwhile, the SLS rocket, originally due to launch in 2017, is now delayed until at least the end of 2021.Īs a result of this, Bolden appears to have changed his mind. It has since flown successfully two more times, and it will play a role in NASA's future exploration plans. In February 2018, SpaceX launched the Falcon Heavy rocket for the first time. The Falcon 9 Heavy may some day come about. We don’t have a commercially available heavy-lift vehicle. ![]() His response at the time: “Let’s be very honest. When I sat down with Bolden for an interview in 2014 at Johnson Space Center, I asked why NASA was investing so much in the SLS rocket when SpaceX was using its own funds to develop the lower-cost Falcon Heavy rocket. He also dismissed the efforts of commercial space companies like SpaceX to build comparable technology. During that time, he oversaw the creation and initial development of the agency's large Space Launch System rocket.Īlthough some NASA officials such as then-Deputy Director Lori Garver were wary of the rocket's costs- about $20 billion has now been poured into development of a launch vehicle based on existing technology-Bolden remained a defender of the large rocket, calling it a lynchpin of the agency's plans to send humans beyond low-Earth orbit, perhaps to the Moon or Mars. Charlie Bolden, a four-time astronaut, served as NASA administrator from mid-2009 through early 2017.
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