{"id":18320,"date":"2018-10-11T01:19:50","date_gmt":"2018-10-10T17:19:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/nasa-watchdogs-blame-sls-rocket-snags-on-boeing-missteps-and-poor-oversight\/"},"modified":"2018-10-11T01:19:50","modified_gmt":"2018-10-10T17:19:50","slug":"nasa-watchdogs-blame-sls-rocket-snags-on-boeing-missteps-and-poor-oversight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/nasa-watchdogs-blame-sls-rocket-snags-on-boeing-missteps-and-poor-oversight\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA watchdogs blame SLS rocket snags on Boeing missteps and poor oversight"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Core
A structural test version of the intertank for NASA\u2019s new deep-space rocket, the Space Launch System, arrives at NASA\u2019s Marshall Space Flight Center in March for testing aboard the barge Pegasus. The intertank is the second piece of structural hardware for the massive SLS core stage. (NASA Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

NASA\u2019s Space Launch System, the rocket that\u2019s being designed to send astronauts to the moon and Mars, seems likely to miss the schedule for its first test launch in 2020 due to poor management by Boeing and its overseers, the space agency\u2019s auditors say.<\/p>\n

A report released today by the NASA Office of Inspector General projects that the delivery of the first Boeing-built core stage for the heavy-lift SLS rocket may slip beyond its currently scheduled date of December 2019. What\u2019s more, the cost of SLS development is on track to amount to at least $8.9 billion, which is twice what was originally budgeted, the auditors say.<\/p>\n

\u201cBoeing\u2019s cost and schedule challenges are likely to worsen, given that the SLS has yet to undergo its \u2018Green Run Test\u2019 \u2014 a major milestone that integrates and tests the Core Stage components,\u201d NASA said in a summary of the report.<\/p>\n

To meet the schedule for an uncrewed test flight around the moon by 2020, followed by a crewed flight in 2022 and the development of a new upper-stage booster for flights after that, the SLS program will have to be given a \u201cmajor increase in funding\u201d and renegotiate NASA\u2019s contract with Boeing, the report says.<\/p>\n

Much of the blame was laid on mismanagement at Boeing. \u201cFor example, Boeing officials have consistently underestimated the scope of the work to be performed and thus the size and skills of the workforce required,\u201d the auditors said. They added that equipment-related mishaps and a tornado that hit NASA\u2019s Michoud Assembly Facility in Louisiana last year contributed to the schedule and cost problems.<\/p>\n