DIRECT Launcher Team - SLS Launch Gathering

[kraisee]

A brief message to everyone who was involved in the DIRECT Launcher campaign which operated from 2004 to 2011, to say that we're trying to arrange a get-together at the SLS Jupiter 241 Heavy Launch later this year.

While the final date obviously remains to be finalised, I want to reach out to all those whom I do not have current contact information for, to please PM me here on NSF, or by email (see my profile).

Right now, all I'd like to do is get a rough head-count of those interested in joining us for an informal, fun gathering around the first launch attempt.   Friends, family, supporters and participants in the campaign are all welcome.   Because of the continuing pandemic, the gathering is planned to be an entirely outdoor event, and we are trying to find a place where we can book an outdoor meal.

Cheers,

Ross.

[MATTBLAK]

I would have really liked to meet you guys at this launch, but my health won't permit such a trip anymore. I'm not part of the Direct team, but I was an enthusiastic supporter of you guys.

I hope you make this get-together happen!

[MickQ]

Exactly what Matt said. Hope it works out for you guys.  Stay safe.

[Eric Hedman]

The Direct days were some of the most fun and interesting days on this site.  I doubt if I'll be able to sneak down to Florida for the launch.  I would like to.

Ross,

Take pictures if you have this gathering and post them on here.  I think a lot of people would like to see them.  Put names with faces if you can.

Take Care.

[freda]

As I’m sure is the same with many readers of this thread, you are seriously tempting me to pack a suitcase, gas up the car and head on down. Hmmm…

[kraisee]

There are just ten 'tickets' and Chuck, Steve, Philip and I are all coming, together with 5 others who have already confirmed. That means that right now we now have just one remaining unallocated ticket.

For anyone who misses it, we are planning to get together for a few days around the launch, with plenty of chatting, a dinner or two and probably a full day with the whole group doing the Visitor's Center thing too

Subject to SLS schedules and people schedules too, it may be that some people can't make both the private tour and the launch together.   In that situation then we should be able to get someone to fill an empty slot.

Ross.

[kraisee]

The Direct days were some of the most fun and interesting days on this site.  I doubt if I'll be able to sneak down to Florida for the launch.  I would like to.

Ross,

Take pictures if you have this gathering and post them on here.  I think a lot of people would like to see them.  Put names with faces if you can.

Take Care.

Will do.   Probably just get everyone to put all their pics in here, as long as Chris & Co. don't object.

Ross.

[kraisee]

I would have really liked to meet you guys at this launch, but my health won't permit such a trip anymore. I'm not part of the Direct team, but I was an enthusiastic supporter of you guys.

I hope you make this get-together happen!

I certainly remember you Matt - and so many others - were continually supporting us.   I don't think we would ever have continued without the widespread support we received, it was a backbone that we all relied upon.

I hope your health improves.   I've had a few of my own issues a few years ago, so you have my sympathies.

Ross.

[MATTBLAK]

I would have really liked to meet you guys at this launch, but my health won't permit such a trip anymore. I'm not part of the Direct team, but I was an enthusiastic supporter of you guys.

I hope you make this get-together happen!

I certainly remember you Matt - and so many others - were continually supporting us.   I don't think we would ever have continued without the widespread support we received, it was a backbone that we all relied upon.

I hope your health improves.   I've had a few of my own issues a few years ago, so you have my sympathies.

Ross.

Thank you for your kind words, Ross, it's appreciated. I now have ALS so unfortunately it wont be getting any better I'm afraid. Y'all take care and have a wonderful time!!

[kraisee]

Thank you for your kind words, Ross, it's appreciated. I now have ALS so unfortunately it wont be getting any better I'm afraid. Y'all take care and have a wonderful time!!

Sorry to hear that Matt, that's a tough break. I wish you all the best keeping it at bay as long as you can - they're coming up with new treatments all the time and hopefully something will be able to help you.

We'll drink a toast to you!

Ross.

[spacenut]

Kraisee, haven't heard from you in years.  I joined NASAspaceflight back in 2007 and remember all those days.  What do you think of SpaceX and Starship vs what is now SLS?

[kraisee]

At its heart SLS is fundamentally based on the 1970's technology that led to Shuttle.   Starship is a 21st century design made with technology 50 years more advanced and deliberately created to avoid carrying any legacy baggage what-so-ever.

More importantly, Starship never had to meet any of the same requirements to obtain Congressional support, requirements that severely handcuff all NASA launchers (perhaps all major NASA programs).   As such, it really isn't fair to compare one against the other.

The make-or-break question is whether they can get Starship operational before Elon runs of out cash.   He has bet the entire farm, as he has successfully done in the past.   If the bet doesn't pay off, we will all be grateful to have SLS in the back pocket.   But I, for one, think you'd be stupid to bet against Elon, and if he is successful, Starship won't just change space launch in dramatic new ways, it will ultimately result in big changes across western society as a whole.

I wish both programs Godspeed, and I look forward to personally witnessing both inaugural orbital launches this year.   I wonder which will be first to make it?

Ross.

PS - I remember you too!   And thanks for your support back in the day!   I don't spend a lot of time on here these days, been working for a series of startups designing a rocket here and there, lots of satellites and doing endless fundraising.   Spend most of my spare time designing and making models instead of reading forums, but I do pop in from time to time, mainly to watch the latest on SpaceX's stuff or check the status of a launch.

[DanClemmensen]

The make-or-break question is whether they can get Starship operational before Elon runs of out cash.   He has bet the entire farm, as he has successfully done in the past.   If the bet doesn't pay off, we will all be grateful to have SLS in the back pocket.   But I, for one, think you'd be stupid to bet against Elon, and if he is successful, Starship won't just change space launch in dramatic new ways, it will ultimately result in big changes across western society as a whole.

As of today, SLS depends entirely on Artemis as its only customer, and Artemis depends on Starship HLS for the Artemis 3 mission and probably for the later LETS version of HLS.  I'm not sure how SLS can survive without Starship. Artemis also depends on quite a few support missions, almost all of which depend on either FH or F9, so if Elon "runs out of cash" there would be additional problems with Artemis. I think SpaceX imploding is less likely than ULA imploding, so I don't worry about it much. If SpaceX implodes, other new launchers will take its place, not SLS.

Wishing for SLS (or DIRECT) to come to the rescue is like yearning for the days when the tall ships sailed the seas. The ships were magnificent and beautiful, the technology was fascinating and highly optimized, and those who built and manned the tall ships did a heroic and laudable job, but it's over.

[libra]

More importantly, Starship never had to meet any of the same requirements to obtain Congressional support, requirements that severely handcuff all NASA launchers (perhaps all major NASA programs).

This. Excellent point. In passing, this bring us to the epic saga of COTS /CCDEV - Dragon 1 & 2, Falcon 9.

There are so many ironies with COTS  (related to SpaceX, NASA, Congress, Constellation, Griffin, Space Shuttle last days) I don't even know where to start the list.

Could be summarized the following way:

"Created to replace the Shuttle in supporting ISS logistics and later crew rotations; so that NASA could focuse its core HSF budget on (doomed) Constellation; then helped rescueing SpaceX in 2008 "annus horribilis"; and thus allowed BFR / Starship to happen a decade thereafter."

The make-or-break question is whether they can get Starship operational before Elon runs of out cash.   He has bet the entire farm, as he has successfully done in the past.   If the bet doesn't pay off, we will all be grateful to have SLS in the back pocket.   But I, for one, think you'd be stupid to bet against Elon, and if he is successful, Starship won't just change space launch in dramatic new ways, it will ultimately result in big changes across western society as a whole.

What is really fascinating to watch since 2010 is NASA quietly integrating SpaceX achievements and advances in the (Artemis) equation.
While of course working on SLS / Orion, as per its 2010 marching orders and Congressional mandate.

They are walking on that tight rope in a rather interesting way. I have to say that when they picked Starship for Artemis, I was jubilating.
Now they have both giant rockets - so different - on their long term agenda.

It is also useful to remember that SLS (too often derided as an expendable expensive dinosaur of rocket) has one small advantage over Starship for lunar missions: it doesn't need LEO refuelings to go there.
(make no mistake, I do know that with LEO refueling Starship buries SLS in payload delivery to the lunar surface.)

Red somewhere that Starship for Artemis will need between 4 and 14 refuelings. But SLS needs NONE. Zero.

I wish both programs Godspeed, and I look forward to personally witnessing both inaugural orbital launches this year.

Me too. Having grown in the 1990's and turning 40 this year, seeing this peculiar collision between "old school" and "new school" giant rockets is fascinating.  It is something unseen in space history before, except perhaps in the Saturn V - Space Shuttle transition, but the two stacks missed by 8 years (1973 and 1981).

[kraisee]

I just got home from watching Artemis 1 launch from the Sat-V Center, where I finally got to experience the roar, together with other members of the DIRECT Team.

Wow. That was impressive! Significantly louder and more powerful than any of the Shuttle's I saw.

It's incredibly humbling, remembering the part we played in getting the program established in the first place, so I want to take this moment to thank everyone who worked on DIRECT, and all of you who supported the campaign between 2004 and 2011. It was definitely worth it!

I also extend my enormous thanks and appreciation to every single person who has worked on Artemis. Your long hours and hard work brought this rocket to life tonight and we got to see what I will always refer to as a Jupiter 241 Stretched Heavy launch on an immaculate flight, carrying the first human rated spacecraft on its mission around the moon to occur in my lifetime.

Thank you so much and BLOODY WELL DONE to one and all!

Go Jupiter! Go SLS! Go Orion! Go Artemis!

Ross.

[FinalFrontier]

Just glad it did not explode.
Long overdue but it was truly amazing to see it finally work. Wish I could have been there in person but I'm on the other side of the world for work currently.

Glad you got to see it Ross and same to anyone else from back in the day who made it out there.

[Lobo]

Ross,

I was just about to say, "Hey, isn't that a Jupiter-241?"
 

Well, it's about 12 years late and Billions over budget unnecessarily over Direct (which basically actually was one of the original proposals considered by NASA in 2005, but not selected in favor of the Ares 1/5 architecture...which didn't turn out so well...) but finally NASA has some metal off the ground.

Hope the reunion of the Direct Team for this launch was great!  You guys did a lot of great work.  It was during those years that I joined NASASpaceFlight and became a lifetime L2 member...to get all the insider news!  Direct was such a great, common sense, practical architecture.  It was a shame it was never adopted.

And it was a pleasure to have had a chance to meet you when I was in Florida for the first attempt to Launch STS-133 in November of 2010.
Glad to see you are still kicking around Florida and the Forums.
 

[Eric Hedman]

When are you guys going to post some pictures of your gathering on this thread?

[JAFO]

If you had posted your rendezvous location the line of people willing to buy you all a round would have stretched down the block.

Glad you all got to see a successful launch.