In his 1961 novel The Winter of Our Discontent, John Steinbeck wrote of loss, “It’s so much darker when a light goes out than it would have been if it had never shone.”
The demise of NASA’s Exploration Upper Stage today offers the reverse of that sentiment. The light from the world of spaceflight has only grown brighter now that this piece has been retired.
The rocket's end was announced through an unassuming notice on a government procurement site: “NASA/MSFC intends to issue a sole source contract to acquire next-generation upper stages for use in Space Launch System (SLS) Artemis IV and Artemis V from United Launch Alliance (ULA).”
Known for its durability, the Exploration Upper Stage embodied resilience—a testament to political backing from influential senators in Alabama, Mississippi, Texas, and Florida, and the influence of government funding.
Its Purpose and Legacy
Initially contracted to Boeing over ten years ago, the Exploration Upper Stage was meant to launch not only the Orion spacecraft but also significant payloads to the Moon. For some time, the emergence of advanced rockets from SpaceX, Blue Origin, and United Launch Alliance, which could efficiently transport large cargo, did not detract from its intended role.
So why was the Exploration Upper Stage necessary?
The brief explanation is funding allocations, often termed 'pork.' However, it's more complex. When Congress and NASA proposed the SLS rocket in 2011, they planned for the initial launches to use an “interim” upper stage, derived from the Delta IV rocket's upper stage. With the phase-out of that rocket, due to cost and increased competition, a lasting solution became necessary.