UGH: NASA ‘still working toward’ 2020 launch of massive SLS rocket. “Multiple concerns remain: cost, schedule, management, delayed upper stage.“

Multiple sources have told Ars that while NASA is still targeting sometime later in 2020 for a test launch of the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft, known as Exploration Mission-1, this flight is likely to slip into 2021.

This week, in response to a query about potential delays, a spokeswoman for the agency’s exploration program, Kathryn Hambleton, said the agency is not ready to discuss a new schedule yet. “NASA is still assessing impacts as a result of the shutdown, but we are still working toward a launch in 2020,” she told Ars.

I’m about to turn 50, but I’m not quite old enough to remember when NASA could launch as much weight to LEO as the SLS is supposed to be able to lift, someday, eventually.