It looks like Polaris Dawn is finally about to launch.

Everyone has noted that this will be the highest-altitude flight since Apollo, but all of the Apollo astronauts were men. Menon and Gillis will hold the altitude record for women after this, until a woman goes to the moon (which may or not be on Artemis, given the ongoing boondoggle).

Lord help us, the new cost estimate of NASA’s Mobile Launcher-2 project is now a mind-boggling $2.7 billion.https://t.co/KE7WZEtcQ5

— Eric Berger (@SciGuySpace) August 27, 2024

[Update a while later]

Bob Zimmerman has thoughts on the latest SLS fiasco.

[Wednesday-afternoon update]

I weep when I consider what *actual useful* space hardware we could have for $2.7B. https://t.co/USS3NwXBFx

— Rand Simberg (@Simberg_Space) August 27, 2024