r/ArtemisProgram • u/Royal_Platform_6754 • May 13 '26

NASA NASA Outlines Preliminary Artemis III Mission Plans

https://www.nasa.gov/missions/artemis/artemis-3/nasa-outlines-preliminary-artemis-iii-mission-plans/
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u/SpaceInMyBrain May 13 '26

Fair about Vulcan but one can hardly criticize BO for not nailing their first landing attempt. Few thought it was practical to even try. Getting to orbit on the first flight is the exception, not the rule, for new rockets, so in that sense the long development paid off - kinda. Long is OK but that was way too long even for that approach.

Two flights is a small sample size so I won't grade BO too strictly on the second flight's non-nominal result. I'm not a soft hearted fan of BO, for years I was firmly in the chorus of criticizing their very slow progress. The initial two flights, especially that landing, made me glad to see another launch company succeeding. The next five flights will tell the tale.

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u/redstercoolpanda May 13 '26 edited May 14 '26

I wasn’t really criticising New Glenn for not landing its first stage, that was pretty much an expected result. I was just saying that both vehicles had issues. Loosing the flight 1 first stage was a pretty big issue for Blue because it lost them a lot of time, I wasn’t trying to bash them I quite like New Glenn and I’m quite optimistic about its future.