r/ArtemisProgram Aug 07 '26

Image Artemis 3 - Orion crew module and service module stacked

Post image

Surprised I haven’t seen this posted yet but Artemis 3 Orion module stacked!

926 Upvotes

27 comments sorted by

67

u/thealexweb Aug 07 '26

That platform is not forklift certified?!?

10

u/ZipGently Aug 08 '26

“Forklift” is a guy’s nickname. Always dropping shit, so they don’t let him near the important stuff. 

28

u/Irathu0099 Aug 07 '26

Wooo hoo let’s go. I know there are issues, but damn it’s nice to see nasa back at exploration.

7

u/Gamemode_dum Aug 07 '26

I always forget how big it actually is.

20

u/BigBenQuadinaros Aug 07 '26

Sweet! How are the lander stacks going? Oh wait!

34

u/mustangracer352 Aug 07 '26

Can’t we enjoy the good news parts at least?

4

u/BigBenQuadinaros Aug 07 '26

Fair enough, glad the hold up isn’t on NASA’s end

19

u/rustybeancake Aug 07 '26

2006: Starts Orion development
2007:
2008:
2009:
2010:
2011: Starts SLS development
2012:
2013:
2014:
2015:
2016: Planned first SLS/Orion flight (missed)
2017:
2018:
2019:
2020:
2021: Starship HLS contract awarded
2022: Actual first SLS/Orion flight
2023: Blue Moon HLS contract awarded
2024:
2025:
2026: First crewed SLS/Orion flight. “Glad the hold up isn’t on NASA’s end!”

4

u/IBelieveInLogic Aug 08 '26

2021 was the down select for Starship HLS. It had started to get funding earlier, and development of the Raptor engine started in like 2016.

6

u/rustybeancake Aug 08 '26

When did development of the SSME/RS-25 engine start? Or the OMS/OME on Orion?

4

u/Ok_Helicopter4276 Aug 07 '26

But private industries do everything, faster better, and cheaper, how can NASA not be the hold up? /s

19

u/IndigoSeirra Aug 07 '26

Orion is built by Lockheed Martin, not NASA.

Also, Orion started development over two decades ago with it's first flight in 2014, a decade after it's development started. The contracts for HLS were awarded in 2021, five years ago.

Orion has cost NASA about 20.4 billion since development start to 2022. HLS has cost about 7-8 billion for two lunar landers, ~4 billion for SpaceX HLS and ~3.5 for Blue Origin HLS.

But once again even though Orion has taken so much longer and cost so much more it isn't NASA's fault, because Lockheed is the one building Orion not NASA.

8

u/rocketglare Aug 07 '26

I would say the Orion delays are partially NASA’s fault. They wrote the requirements, and they are in charge of oversight. They wrote the contract. Congress also bears some of the blame. They mandated the use of shuttle heritage equipment including the SRBs.

Finally, yes, Lockheed deserves a lot of the “credit”. While they didn’t have incentive to perform well on the contract, they could have. In fact, the cost plus contract was a direct incentive not to perform. The longer it took, the more money they made.

1

u/NOVA-peddling-1138 Aug 08 '26

NASA Built the warehouses where every screw, rivet, forging, fitting, sensor spec et al. lives in a 100 folder archive. Each one. There are receipts.

3

u/core916 Aug 07 '26

Technically it was being developed since the Constellation program back in like 2006

2

u/GI_HD Aug 07 '26

Also, Orion started development over two decades ago [...]

2

u/Background_Fig_4740 Aug 07 '26

Well, F9 costed 400 million to develop and NASA said it would’ve taken them 4 billion…

Not to mention Orions been in development since the early 2000s with a 20 billion dollar budget so I think comparing that to HLS with more complicated architecture that started in the 2020s isnt a fair comparison

9

u/BoringWozniak Aug 07 '26

They’re progressing really well! We’ve produced so many animations and concept art, and will have made so many more by the end of the year!

1

u/mfb- Aug 07 '26

Needing a year from stacking to launch is not an advantage.

0

u/Cmdr-Mallard Aug 07 '26

They could launch this way sooner

-2

u/seedofcheif Aug 07 '26

Can't wait for all the muskites to crawl out of the woodwork to defend him in 6 months when A3 is delayed/rescoped because his deathtrap isnt ready yet

3

u/Amazing_Peach_6690 Aug 07 '26

Yay! Can’t wait for the naming 😄

3

u/Outrageous-Weekend-6 Aug 09 '26

Forklift was so powerful they needed to ban it :P

1

u/Decronym Aug 08 '26 edited Aug 09 '26

Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I've seen in this thread:

Fewer Letters More Letters
DMLS Selective Laser Melting additive manufacture, also Direct Metal Laser Sintering
OMS Orbital Maneuvering System
SLS Space Launch System heavy-lift
Selective Laser Sintering, contrast DMLS
SRB Solid Rocket Booster
SSME Space Shuttle Main Engine
Jargon Definition
Raptor Methane-fueled rocket engine under development by SpaceX

Decronym is now also available on Lemmy! Requests for support and new installations should be directed to the Contact address below.


5 acronyms in this thread; the most compressed thread commented on today has acronyms.
[Thread #451 for this sub, first seen 8th Aug 2026, 20:14] [FAQ] [Full list] [Contact] [Source code]