NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman announced a sweeping roadmap change to the Artemis program this morning—seemingly cancelling the EUS, Gateway, and all SLS upgrades, and instead pursuing the once-and-future annual launch cadence of SLS.

This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 33 executive producers—David, Russell, Pat, Better Every Day Studios, Joonas, Josh from Impulse, Theo and Violet, Steve, Jan, Will and Lars from Agile, Miles O’Brien, Kris, Fred, Stealth Julian, Frank, Joakim, Ryan, Warren, Matt, The Astrogators at SEE, Joel, Lee, Tim Dodd (the Everyday Astronaut!), Donald, Natasha Tsakos, Heiko, and four anonymous—and hundreds of supporters.

Topics

• NASA shakes up its Artemis program to speed up lunar return - Ars Technica
• NASA Adds Mission to Artemis Lunar Program, Updates Architecture - NASA
• NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman on X: “President Trump gave the world the Artemis Program, and NASA and our partners have the plan to deliver. We will standardize architecture where possible, add missions and accelerate flight rate, execute in an evolutionary way, and safely return American astronauts to the Moon…”
• NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman on X: “…and this is how we’re going back.”
• Teams Begin Artemis II Repairs in Vehicle Assembly Building - NASA

The Show

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Loren Grush, of Bloomberg, joins me to talk about SpaceX’s acquisition of xAI, its preparation for a potential IPO, Blue Origin’s cancellation of New Shepard and their recent momentum, and the delay to Artemis II following its first wet dress rehearsal.

This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 33 executive producers—David, Natasha Tsakos, Stealth Julian, Warren, Joakim, Tim Dodd (the Everyday Astronaut!), Miles O’Brien, Pat, Better Every Day Studios, Will and Lars from Agile, The Astrogators at SEE, Steve, Joonas, Frank, Fred, Heiko, Donald, Lee, Russell, Kris, Ryan, Theo and Violet, Joel, Matt, Jan, Josh from Impulse, and four anonymous—and hundreds of supporters.

Topics

• SpaceX Acquires xAI as Musk Prepares for Mega IPO - Bloomberg
• SpaceX-xAI Deal Blurs Musk’s Once-Clear Space Exploration Mission - Bloomberg
• Loren Brichter, a High Priest of App Design - WSJ
• Blue Origin to Pause New Shepard Flights for No Less Than Two Years | Blue Origin
• NASA Conducts Artemis II Fuel Test, Eyes March for Launch Opportunity - NASA

The Show

• Like the show? Support the show on Patreon or Substack!
• Email your thoughts, comments, and questions to anthony@mainenginecutoff.com
• Follow @WeHaveMECO
• Follow @meco@spacey.space on Mastodon
• Listen to MECO Headlines
• Listen to Off-Nominal
• Join the Off-Nominal Discord
• Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Pocket Casts, Spotify, Google Play, Stitcher, TuneIn or elsewhere
• Subscribe to the Main Engine Cut Off Newsletter
• Artwork photo by NASA/John Kraus
• Work with me and my design and development agency: Pine Works