I am unbelievably angry. I watched a near identical scenario to this unfold when I was 8 years old and saw the decimation of NASA and its lunar program and now we're here again because some billionaires just want to make more money. Spent some time today calling senators but man... I don't know.

Blown away by the cowardice of Jared Isaacman. Instead of fully announcing this cancellation in a press conference where it was more or less already announced it is tucked away in a footnote of a press release at 5PM the day before the NASA Authorization Markup to avoid questions.

This is notably directly against the current active NASA Authorization which requires the Exploration Upper Stage to be used on Artemis IV. Public Law 117-167

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman has unilaterally decided to cancel the Exploration Upper Stage and Mobile Launcher 2, both of which are nearing completion and congressionally mandated for use by Artemis IV. www.nasa.gov/directorates...

If the SLS were a Falcon 9, then Jared Isaacman's "fantastic" plan would look like this. I could agree with the LEO A3 mission (well, SpaceX aren't ready anyway), but the ‘Standard SLS’ is nothing more than sabotaging NASA’s own SHLV capability.

In an update today regarding the ICPS Helium Blockage, NASA confirmed that the issue was with a seal on the ICPS Umbilical arm. Teams have replaced and reassembled the system. They are also currently refreshing a number of limited life items on the vehicle. www.nasa.gov/blogs/missio...

Soooooo… it’s starting to look like there may not have actually been any change to the programs at all and that Isaacman just announced a plan he had to try and force it…

While the change to Artemis III's mission to be a joint test of HLS in Earth Orbit was expected and welcomed, the decision to develop an entire new variant of the SLS rocket in less than two years has sparked sharp criticism across the industry. Read More: derek.space/2026/02/28/a...

The announcement of the new upper stage for SLS seems to have blindsided the people actually building the rocket. No work whatsoever has been done on actually designing and integrating this stage with the SLS rocket, not even a basic feasibility study.

Un fucking believeable. We’re going to lose Artemis outright because or Jared Isaacman. Fuck this game man.

Good overview of recent issues for #ArtemisII and the pushing forward of launch date for a few more weeks. 🔭🚀 👇👇👇

I’d just like the share the fact that I did reach out to a few folks to get a comment on valves in the spaceflight industry but every single one had a multitude of expletives in them that I reasonably couldn’t cut out and still use the quote. I’m going to ask and see if I can share them here later.

Artemis II is ever so close to launch, however the need to access and repair the upper stage is keeping the mission on the ground for a few more weeks. Read More: derek.space/2026/02/25/a...

Have had a few days to see how people at KSC are feeling following the Artemis II rollback. I think one word really comes up a lot in this. “Annoyed” Most people consider the ICPS helium issue small and expect it to be a straightforward fix, but are frustrated that it didn’t show up until now.

I never want to hear anyone say NASA spends too much money ever again. Seriously, they have built a lunar exploration program alongside all of their other programs on budgetary scraps for the past 20 years meanwhile stuff like this is going on.

Get the CW commentary booth into the Cup Series right now. Genuinely some of the best race commentary I have heard in YEARS for NASCAR. The excitement in the booth is sorely missed. www.youtube.com/watch?v=5r-t...

Jared Isaacman has posted with some more details as to the potential issue that caused the loss of Helium flow into the vehicle. Shout out valves in spaceflight. No one likes them. Everyone uses them.

During the data review for the Wet Dress Rehearsal, a potential issue with the flow of helium within the ICPS was observed. Teams are currently evaluating troubleshooting options but will likely return the rocket to the VAB to directly inspect the stage.

Reading through the overall results of yesterday's Wet Dress Rehearsal and I am feeling very optimistic that Artemis II will be on its way in March. Leak rates peaked at just 1.6% cavity volume during the first terminal count, well below both the limit and what was seen on Artemis Is launch day.

Coding errors have managed to take down many a rocket in the past. I am very concerned for when a company decides it’s a good idea for ai to write the code for one of these machines.

And NASA has completed the second Terminal Count for the Artemis II WDR, reaching T-29 seconds before the ALS "Aborted" the countdown. This marks the conclusion of the countdown testing for today, and now operators will proceed with safing and detanking of the SLS rocket.

Artemis II is once again in the Terminal Count for the Wet Dress Rehearsal. This attempt will aim to go all the way to T-0:33 seconds without any hold points. The first test of today had a planned hold at T-1:30 for approximately 3 minutes.

Official update from NASA. Looking good tonight, only about a 12 minute delay to the start of the first countdown tonight and currently in the reset for the second countdown simulation. Second count expected in ~30-60 minutes from this post.

SLS has completed its first countdown cycle and is now back at T-10 Minutes and Holding! That attempt completed the full count from T-10:00 minutes to T-0:33 seconds, with a brief hold at T-1:30 to evaluate the vehicle's ability to stay in a flight ready state for an brief extension.

Artemis II WDR is now holding at T-10 Minutes. This is a planned hold point leading into Terminal Count. Part of the test ran long earlier so we expected a slight delay to the first countdown test tonight. Meanwhile at SLC-40 a Falcon 9 rocket is also fueled and expected to launch in ~20 minutes.

The closeout crews have left the white room at the end of the Crew Access Arm. So far today's Wet Dress Rehearsal has gone smoothly and we continue to count towards a simulated T-0 in approximately 100 minutes.

The close out crew has been at the launch pad for over an hour now going through their steps for readying the Orion Capsule for flight on Artemis II. On flight day, their responsibilities will also include strapping the crew into their seats aboard Orion.

NASA is currently conducting their second Wet Dress Rehearsal ahead of Artemis II. So far the test is going very smoothly with the only notable incident being a brief communications issue on the ground side. They have finished the LH2 load of the core stage and are nearing completion of LOX load.

What do you mean 5 years ago WHAT DO YOU MENA FIVE

ESA Director @josefaschbacher.esa.int's recent tour of the O&C Building at KSC offered us a glimpse at the progress on both Artemis III and Artemis IVs service modules, and the growing production line of hardware for future Artemis missions. 📸NASA/Kim Shiflett

NASA is preparing to install the Contingency Pad Access Arms onto Mobile Launcher 1 at LC-39B. These are new structures designed to allow technicians to access the Core Stage and Booster Flight Termination System batteries at the pad to retest them in the event of an extended pad stay.

It will forever be strange to walk into a place that you have seen a bunch of photos of and how different it looks in person.

Tomorrow Is A New Day. And holy shit am I excited for this one let me tell you

West coast folks, there is very likely a spectacular "jellyfish" plume over you right now! Take a step outside and look up if you can!

The Crew-12 Astronauts have requested an additional private medical conference with the ground following docking with station in just a few moments. If I were to guess one of the Astronauts are most likely just suffering from ill effects of microgravity. This is not uncommon early in a mission.

Finally caught back up on sleep after the USSF-87 Crew-12 combo and whoof. Crazy few days.

Crew 12 is on its way! The four astronaut crew lifted off successfully from Space Launch Complex 40 beginning their 34 hour trip to the International Space Station!

NASA’s Crew-12 mission is just a few hours from being underway to the International Space Station. The four person crew left to the launch pad just under an hour ago, and are currently boarding Freedom ahead of a 5:15 AM commute to orbit.

Vulcan's Fury.

In an update posted on X ULA confirmed the anomaly and indicated that the mission is continuing as expected despite the issue.

United Launch Alliance’s 2026 has gotten off to a bad start. Another nozzle failure on a GEM-63XL is likely to ground the Vulcan rocket for months, as Northrop Grumman will need to redesign and replace the assembly. A similar anomaly occurred during the Cert-2 mission in 2024.

China has just successfully conducted the In Flight Abort Test of their Mengzhou capsule, which not only tested the vehicle's emergency escape system, but also saw a prototype of the Long March 10 first stage fly and perform a soft touchdown in the water. 📸Credit @T汪汪T via weibo

Today on @xkcd.com , the worst possible way to build a solid rocket motor based launch system! www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdlQ...

Bollinger Shipyards released a video yesterday showing off the near complete RS SpaceShip, United Launch Alliance's second rocket transport ship. This ship, alongside RS RocketShip will transport Vulcan rockets from Decatur Alabama to Cape Canaveral or Vandenberg Space Force Base.

Late last year NASA put out that they would be opening up the Artemis III lander to other providers as Starship fell behind. Both SpaceX and Blue submitted their options for an accelerated landing recently, and I am inclined to believe that a decision may be imminent.

I’ve never liked Berger. It’s not exactly a secret I keep close. But calling him “Historically a Musk fanboy) is a huge understatement. He is a major reason SpaceX developed such a cult like following, and is also financially tied to their successes from his access journalism and book deal.

I swear the ISS planners have it out for photographers sleep schedule.

Pretty wild to see SpaceX pretty much throw in the towel on Mars. Now its goal is a "self-growing city on the Moon" which is just... fundamentally a joke lol

And now, it’s NASCAR time. See you @ Daytona 😎

It’s very funny how I have grown up around nerds much of my life, and the pipeline of “Football is stupid” to football fanatic is incredibly real and all of us watch nowadays.