The SLS rocket is the worst thing to happen to NASA—but maybe also the best?
The reason I say that SLS was one of the best things to happen to NASA is simple. In hindsight, it's the political price the agency had to pay to bring Congress on board with a real deep space exploration program. The Artemis Program—which certainly is NASA's most "real" human deep space exploration program since Apollo—was created by Vice President Mike Pence and then-administrator Jim Bridenstine about three years ago. Congress only went along because Bridenstine promised to use the SLS rocket for all human launches to the Moon.