NASA Starts To Confirm SLS Changes It Denied Last Week

Gerstenmaier--now thinking we will fly EM-2 on SLS with ICPS. EM-2 will not carry PPE now, will get cmrcl launch for that. Learned from study we did re flying crew on EM-1 last yr that not as costly as we thought to human rate ICPS. — Marcia Smith (@SpcPlcyOnline) April 25, 2018

Gerstenmaier explained that EM-2 will, in fact, happen sooner than planned because of the 2nd MLP. But that's because they will now fly EM-2 on the existing MPL using an ICPS upper stage instead of EUS. So it does accelerate EM-2, but the nature of EM-2 changes (no PPE, eg) https://t.co/4LAFpakSwu — Marcia Smith (@SpcPlcyOnline) April 25, 2018

Keith's note: Funny. Just last week MSFC was denying that there was any change in SLS launch plans.

Radical Shift in SLS Launch Plans Discussed at MSFC (Update), Earier post

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