The Space Nerd Chat Zone

[plz delete account]

You are now entering the realm of the Space Nerds. It is best to observe from a close distance if you don't know what things like Max-Q, SLS, or this mean.
You have been warned.

Welcome, fellow Space Nerds, to our official chat zone to discuss all things space! from Roscosmos's Soyuz, to SpaceX's now defunct Starhopper, to discussions on how the Flatland thought experiment applies to wormholes, this is your one stop shop for everything related to space here on MMO-C!

Houston, we have a thread!

First topic: SLS is coming along nicely for a rocket two years late. Thoughts?

[Val the Moofia Boss]

First topic: SLS is coming along nicely for a rocket two years late. Thoughts?

At this rate, I don't the launch mattering much since by that time SpaceX will have already managed how to do it better and cheaper anyway.

[plz delete account]

At this rate, I don't the launch mattering much since by that time SpaceX will have already managed how to do it better and cheaper anyway.

I disagree; SpaceX doesn't have plans for manned launches of Starship until 2023... the same year SLS will be having its first manned launches, too.
And at current, those plans don't include landing or docking to anything but a refueling version of Starship for additional fuel, and the single concrete mission plan with starship going anywhere in the near future is to send a japanese billionaire on a fly-by free return trajectory past the moon and back to Earth/

SLS already has plans laid out and NASA is already being funded to do the following with SLS/Orion:

Orbit the moon
Land on the moon's South Pole
Build a lunar spacestation
Build a ground base on the South Pole

The latter three being much harder than anything Apollo did.