NASA's Headache? The Behind-the-Scenes Story of the SLS Rocket and Artemis Mission

Just a few days ago, a moment arrived when many people on Earth looked up at the moon together after a long time. It was thanks to a total lunar eclipse, where the moon hid inside the Earth’s shadow, blocking the sun. For about an hour, the sight of the dark, crimson-tinted moon was truly impressive.

Thanks to this, we could witness a moment where many people gazed up at the night sky together. It was also a very meaningful time to reflect on the fact that we are all beings who originated from the stars. Deep down, I was grateful to the full moon for putting on such a wonderful eclipse performance, directing people’s attention to the night sky.

And soon, the day will come again when everyone on Earth will focus their attention on the moon. This is because the ‘Artemis Mission,’ which will leave human footprints on the moon for the first time in half a century, is scheduled.

But in fact, this mission should have already taken place. Unfortunately, it didn’t. It’s really regrettable to have to talk about it like this. If things had gone smoothly as planned, I would have been sharing a wonderful review of Artemis II, which would have carried humans on a long trip around the lunar orbit and safely returned.

However, sadly, Artemis II encountered technical issues right before its launch and was delayed again. Moreover, NASA announced major, sweeping changes to the entire Artemis mission. Due to this series of disappointing news, some scientists are expressing concerns that the next-generation launch vehicle currently pushed by NASA, the ‘SLS Rocket,’ might become a white elephant.

Will humanity be able to visit the moon again after such a long time? The ‘Hyunja Times’ of Space Dust introduces the behind-the-scenes story of the SLS rocket, which is becoming NASA’s new headache.

1. Continuous Launch Delays and the Rollback of the SLS Rocket

In February, Artemis II was preparing for launch. But right before launch, an issue occurred where the helium tank leaked. And the launch was aborted. The launch was delayed again to early March, but it didn’t succeed this time either. During the ‘Wet Dress Rehearsal,’ conducted at the very end with all fuel tanks completely filled, a problem arose with just 29 seconds left on the countdown.

And this time, a technical issue occurred in the upper stage of the rocket as well. Ultimately, the launch was tentatively postponed. If they rush, they might attempt a launch within April, but since the precious lives of astronauts are on the line from this launch onwards, it seems okay to be more cautious.

The problem that occurred in the most recent launch attempt does not seem simple. The rocket actually left the launch pad and was moved back to the Vehicle Assembly Building in a ‘Rollback’ procedure.

NASA has developed the Space Launch System (SLS) over a long period of time under the title of a ’next-generation rocket’ following the Apollo missions of the 1960s and 70s. However, this very SLS launch vehicle is becoming a headache.

2. Differences from the Apollo Mission and the Lack of Innovation

The most fundamental difference between the Apollo and Artemis missions lies in the ‘reason for going to the moon.’ During the Apollo era, the moon was the final destination. And they didn’t stay on the moon for long. Out of the three astronauts who left Earth, only two left footprints on the moon, and they stayed on the moon for a very short time—from a few hours to a day or two—before immediately returning.

However, the Artemis mission looks beyond the moon to Mars. The goal is to build an outpost on the moon where astronauts can live for several months. Therefore, the Artemis mission carries the spacious ‘Orion spacecraft,’ which can carry one more astronaut than during the Apollo era.

But unlike the payload, the launch vehicle, SLS, doesn’t show any noticeable improvements compared to the Apollo era. Most of the noticeable and tangible advancements in the Artemis mission actually occurred in the Orion spacecraft, not the launch vehicle. The Orion spacecraft is equipped with an emergency escape system that operates delicately down to the millisecond, and four astronauts can live in it for over 20 days. It is also equipped with modern, improved life support and radiation protection systems.

In contrast, when comparing the SLS to the Saturn V rocket used previously in Apollo, it is difficult to find clearly advanced features. The Saturn V rocket could carry up to 125 tons to low Earth orbit and up to 50 tons to lunar orbit. And now, 50 years later, the SLS Block 1 launch vehicle has the performance to carry up to 38 to 46 tons to the moon. Therefore, even just comparing the maximum payload capacity, it’s hard to say that the SLS boasts performance that overwhelms the previous Saturn V.

3. Astronomical Costs and NASA’s Structural Limitations

A bigger problem is that the cost is too high. Currently, in the first four Artemis missions planned by NASA, each launch—including the SLS launch and the operation of the Orion spacecraft—costs a staggering $4.2 billion.

But this is just the cost of the launch itself; the development cost over the past 10 years is ten times that amount. Furthermore, the SLS rocket is not a reusable rocket like SpaceX’s Falcon rocket. Therefore, there doesn’t seem to be a viable way to reduce costs.

The fact that there are no noticeable advancements despite spending so much time and money, and instead, it’s just draining more funds, reveals the structural limitations of NASA. It is because they are tied down to existing technological legacies and find it difficult to break out of that mold, rather than taking risks and attempting bold innovations.

Initially, NASA judged that accepting and inheriting the technological legacy learned during the development of the previous Saturn V rocket and the Space Shuttle would save more time and money than developing completely new technology from scratch. However, that expectation was completely shattered.

Simply reusing existing parts did not solve the problem. They had to go through complex administrative procedures to redesign, recertify, and integrate all the parts again for a new mission. In the end, the SLS did not become a safe rocket that synthesized proven past technologies. Rather, it amplified complexity as old and new technologies were forcefully jumbled together.

4. Political Compromises Hindering Innovation

Also, back in 2010, NASA was forced to utilize existing contractors, investments, and personnel as much as possible during the development process of the SLS rocket. Some criticize that these constraints actually hindered the rocket’s innovation.

NASA’s rocket development is actually not just a challenge aimed at space. It is also a source of livelihood that feeds the industrial base across the United States and the families of countless engineers. It is realistically difficult for politicians to choose to ignore the existing industrial base, even giving up their votes, while only touting technological innovation.

In the end, combined with various political and realistic reasons including jobs, the SLS rocket development was utilized for the purpose of maintaining and feeding NASA’s existing industrial base. Therefore, some point out that this political compromise is one of the factors that prevented meaningful innovation. This is also the biggest difference contrasting NASA with recent private space companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin.

5. A Changed Era, a Cautious Approach

The difference in eras compared to when the Apollo missions were taking place also cannot be ignored. Actually, there were many unfortunate and close-call accidents during the Apollo missions as well.

There was a tragic fire accident where three astronauts lost their lives due to a sudden spark while testing Apollo 1, and there were also major accidents where the entire system went dead after being struck by lightning during launch, or an oxygen tank exploded altogether. Eventually, the first manned flight was not achieved until Apollo 8, and the actual lunar landing was not achieved until Apollo 11.

Nevertheless, when compared to how the current Artemis mission is running, the Apollo mission feels quite bold and reckless. Back then, there was a political consensus that they could not fall behind in the system competition with the Soviet Union, and citizens did not complain much about pouring massive taxes into NASA’s space development. It was also an era where the sacrifice of astronauts could be packaged as a noble sacrifice for the country.

But times have changed now. It is difficult to justify pouring massive budgets into space development by putting forward only system competition anymore. People’s interests have diversified, and it has even become an era where quite a few voices criticize space development as a waste of money. Also, it has now become an era where every single person’s life is considered more precious. They cannot hastily put astronauts on an unverified rocket. It has become an era of undergoing thorough, almost timidly cautious verification until all risks completely disappear.

6. Major Changes to the Artemis Mission and the Future

In the end, Artemis II still hasn’t left the launch pad. In particular, leak accidents are frequently occurring in the helium tank. The helium tank is a necessary device to pressurize the rocket’s fuel and oxidizer. However, since helium itself is such a small and light particle, it continues to cause chronic problems by leaking from the tank.

Due to these series of launch delays and technical defects, NASA announced major changes to the previously planned Artemis mission. NASA determined that the problem with the SLS rocket is that development takes too long and launches are not happening frequently enough. With the current method, they can only launch on average once every three years.

So, NASA established a new goal to build more SLS rockets, launch them frequently—at least once every 10 months—and achieve technical verification. It looks as if they are going to directly follow SpaceX’s method of securing safety through continuous launches.

They also announced that they would standardize the SLS rocket to the current Block 1 and develop them all identically. The original plan was to slightly improve and upgrade performance every time they attempted a launch, but to achieve faster and more frequent launches, they decided not to make reckless changes and instead launch an identically standardized rocket every time.

Originally, they had a bold goal to carry humans and land on the moon right from the next mission, Artemis III. However, NASA canceled the lunar landing attempt for Artemis III. Instead, in Artemis III, they will go up to low Earth orbit and practice rendezvous and docking with a lunar spacecraft.

The Artemis mission ultimately aims to assemble a new lunar space station, the ‘Lunar Gateway,’ where astronauts will reside around the moon. Rather than simply building a base on the lunar surface, they will create a space station orbiting the moon that will serve as a waypoint for future journeys to Mars. They have already selected landing candidate sites on the lunar surface starting from Artemis IV. Now, it’s really just a matter of launching.

7. Why Do We Seek to Go to Space?

However, contrary to expectations, the long-delayed and belatedly developed SLS rocket is causing various problems, making us more tense. Like this, escaping Earth’s gravity to advance into space is still not easy. It’s a task that requires immense effort and energy. Nevertheless, we persistently turn our heads towards space and try to reach out beyond Earth.

Why are we so curious about space and so eager to go there?

I think perhaps the reason is that, deep down in our hearts, we know the fact that we all began from the stars. The new book 『Everything Began From the Stars』 by Joanne Baker, an editor at Science and Nature and a former Hubble Fellow astronomer, tells us in detail how long we have cared about and wondered about the sky, and what efforts we have made to find the answers.

Perhaps that very moment, half a century ago, when human footprints were first imprinted on the moon beyond Earth, was the first moment when myth became science and fear turned into wonder? Now, we are no longer afraid of God’s wrath when watching a lunar eclipse where the moon hides. Instead, we simply sit together outside, happily watching the full moon turning red.

If you are curious about every moment we made a leap while looking at the night sky, I highly recommend turning the pages of Joanne Baker’s book, which traces the great footprints and traces human history has left in that sky.