Do we really need the Orion MPCV

[SessoSaidSo]

Wouldn't it be far more cost effective to send up large payloads and use a commercial crew transport? Also I am willing to bet the final color of the SLS will be orange

[NASAFanboy]

Wouldn't it be far more cost effective to send up large payloads and use a commercial crew transport? Also I am willing to bet the final color of the SLS will be orange

Congress already made it pretty clear. Orion goes, and CCDev goes. Orion might not be our best option, but we chose it, and it's the last chance for USA to take the lead on HSF so we might as well stick with it and hope it gets funded adequately (It is, although funding is pretty short for payloads). I support Orion not because it's the best or best it's the cheapest, because that would be a lie. I support it because it's a spacecraft with a powerful political push backing it up, which makes it very likely to actually fly, and I support it because there are no other alternatives.

[DisarmingBaton5]

Congress already made it pretty clear. Orion goes, and CCDev goes. Orion might not be our best option, but we chose it, and it's the last chance for USA to take the lead on HSF so we might as well stick with it and hope it gets funded adequately (It is, although funding is pretty short for payloads). I support Orion not because it's the best or best it's the cheapest, because that would be a lie. I support it because it's a spacecraft with a powerful political push backing it up, which makes it very likely to actually fly, and I support it because there are no other alternatives.

Congress is so adamant about Orion, but cancelled the rest of Constellation?

[Nibb31]

Without Orion, SLS has no purpose. It's just about the only confirmed payload that is available to fly on it.

None of this makes any sense in terms of exploration. Orion is meant to be an vehicle for BEO exploration, but to go anywhere useful it needs a propulsion module and a shielded hab module which are not planned. So yes, it would have been better to concentrate on a space-only exploration vehicle based around a shielded hab and high-Isp (NTR or SEP) propulsion module and use a cheap CCDev vehicle to ferry the astronauts to and from the space ship. But then, there would be no need for SLS.

Edited August 28, 2014 by Nibb31

[NASAFanboy]

Congress is so adamant about Orion, but cancelled the rest of Constellation?

Obama pressured most of Congress to cancel it, and actively removed CxP from the funding request (And did some questionable stuff such as terminating high-profile CxP supporters in NASA). If Congress even passed a bill to prevent future Presidents from canceling the SLS, then he SLS has a political push behind it.

[Seret]

So yes, it would have been better to concentrate on a space-only exploration vehicle based around a shielded hab and high-thrust propulsion module and use a cheap CCDev vehicle to ferry the astronauts to and from the space ship.

Sounds dangerously sensible.