Dennis Tito is wrong. SLS/Orion is a spaceship to nowhere, not even to Mars and back, because it is too grossly expensive : The Spaceship to Everywhere – Dennis Tito/Huffington Post.

Tito’s Inspiration Mars has morphed from an interesting demo of private space capabilities into a desperate excuse for NASA to justify SLS/Orion. Tito ignores the enormous development and annual program costs of SLS/Orion (and the enormous opportunity cost for the loss of what could have been done with that funding). He ignores the need to fund an improved upper stage for the SLS to make it capable of a Mars fly-by. He ignores the safety issues of flying people on just the second flight of the system – and to Mars no less. As noted here and here, Tito seems to listen only to Doug Cooke, who was a key member of the Mike Griffin cabal that created the Constellation fiasco and who helped convinced key Congresspersons to force SLS on NASA. All of this will leave Inspiration Mars as nothing but a bizarre footnote to the space developments of this era.

===

More space policy/politics related links:

• Certification and Rules-based Technology Regulations: Part of Why We Can’t Have Nice Things – Selenian Boondocks
• 2015 Planetary Science Proposed Budget – Steady as she goes and then big changes – Future Planetary Exploration
• King: Virtual abandoning of NASA was poor U.S. policy – Houston Chronicle – I posted a comment to this item.
• Air Force Analyzing Building RD-180 Engines In U.S. – Defense Daily Network
• The dark side of space: how capitalism poses a threat beyond Earth – FT.com
• US Space Officials Push Smaller Platforms – defensenews.com
• Military lobbyist sees opportunities for Colorado despite cuts – The Gazette
• China’s Space Program Is Taking Off – Aviation Week