With a mid-2020 Administration deadline for Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1) fast approaching, NASA tasked its Launch Services Program (LSP) to study commercial launch alternatives for sending its Orion spacecraft into lunar orbit on an uncrewed test flight.
Delays in the assembly and test schedule for the agency’s Space Launch System (SLS) booster assigned to launch EM-1 precipitated the start of a flurry of activity in early March to try to find other ways to make sure the mission will liftoff in 2020. Ultimately, SLS won, beating the alternatives – such as a fully expendable Falcon Heavy – as the best option to launch EM-1 per the provided guidelines.