In my last post, I wrote about the decision to put crew aboard the second flight of the SLS/Orion system to journey around the Moon. As the clock is ticking, concerns about the readiness or not of this rocket and spacecraft for this milestone have led to continued discussion and reporting. Here are a few recent in-depth discussions on the concerns and events, such as the meeting at NASA HQ.
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“Sometimes we get lucky. And when we get lucky, sometimes we trade that for being good — and then we convince ourselves we’re better than we really are,” Olivas told CNN. “I think it’s valid to question what’s happening at NASA,” Olivas added, “because our history is not perfect.” – – January 23, 2026 “NASA is about to send people to the moon — in a spacecraft not everyone thinks is safe to fly,” Jackie Wattles, CNN
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“…It’s an absurd position to be in. This is a 20-year-old vehicle. And this is the heat shield we are left to fly with, the first time we put humans on it, the one that failed to some extent the previous time, and you changed it up eleven years ago. I mean it’s a massive failure in program management, in my opinion, that this is where we ended up after twenty-one years, sort of with this kludged together heat shield that probably is going to be good enough to fly and is not going to be used on Artemis III…” -Eric Berger – – January 16, 2026 Anthony Colangelo podcast with guests Eric Berger, Senior Space Editor at Ars Technica, and Casey Handmer, Founder of Terraform Industries
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“After taking the job in Washington, DC, Isaacman asked the engineers who investigated the heat shield issue for NASA, as well as the chair of the independent review team and senior human spaceflight officials, to meet with a handful of outside experts. These included former NASA astronauts Charles Camarda and Danny Olivas, both of whom have expertise in heat shields and had expressed concerns about the agency’s decision-making.
For the sake of transparency, Isaacman also invited two reporters to sit in on the meeting, me and Micah Maidenberg of The Wall Street Journal. We were allowed to report on the discussions without directly quoting participants for the sake of a full and open discussion.” – – January 9, 2026 “Is Orion’s heat shield really safe? New NASA chief conducts final review on eve of flight,” Eric Berger, Ars Technica
Zapata Talks NASA 