I knew one of the worlds foremost rocket scientists, he told me in so many words that the SLS was stupid the wrong direction to go.
He spent years and designed his own. he gave some of designs and technology to Blue Origin for free (and they used them) because he was dying and wanted to have some kind of legacy I guess?
Like so many companies Boeing is not really Boeing anymore. You can easily trace that back to the McDonalds merger, and move of HQ to Chicago
He designed a plane based on 787 pieces for Boeing and showed it off to the ceo who liked it but told him they were only interested in milking their existing lines for as long as they possibly could, even though they could have easily built his plane. (the patent fight took lots of money too).
So what became of this scientist’s outlines and ideas? Are they more sensible and efficient? Is anyone following them up or using them? Is there a website with details?