March 04, 2007
Don't Blame Us

Is it me, or is there something obvious missing from this article?

So, Constellation will be delayed because budget problems are holding back Orion? To 2015, you say? When LM proposed to have it ready in 2012?

Hmm. Curious.

I'm sure then that all that hallway talk I've been hearing about development delays on Ares I, which had pushed it's availability for Orion out to 2014 the last I heard, have nothing whatever to do with it. It's all Orion's fault -- it has to be, I mean, what could possibly be wrong with Mike's Stick?

I mean, aside from the fact that it's actually the tall pole in getting Orion into service, and that it's sucking up a whole lot of money that could otherwise be used to keep Orion on schedule.

Good thing I'm getting valuable experience from this program. It'll come in handy when Griffin cancels Orion to preserve the funding for Ares I...

Posted by T.L. James on March 4, 2007 06:43 PM | TrackBack

Comments

If you get Orion online in 2012 without Ares I, what good is that going to do you? They have to be developed in parallel.

Anyway, I'd much rather see an Atlas V derivative fly Orion sometime to the left of 2012.



Posted by: xraydog at March 6, 2007 12:09 PM

That's part of my point -- we're on schedule for 2013 (no longer 2012), ahead of the Stick, but Griffin is saying that budget problems with *Orion* (not Ares I) are slipping the first launch to 2015.

Something doesn't add up here.

And yes, I too would rather it fly on an Atlas V derivative. So would everyone but Mike Griffin and Doc Horowitz and the executives and stockholders of ATK, I suspect.



Posted by: T.L. James at March 6, 2007 06:45 PM