In a written response to the report, the chief of NASA’s Human Spaceflight Directorate, Lori Glaze, said the data in the memorandum support NASA’s decision to cancel these programs earlier this year.

“NASA notes that the challenges summarized in the memorandum—cost growth, schedule slips, contractor performance issues, and evolving mission requirements—reinforce the rationale behind the decisions publicly announced during Ignition Day to streamline the Artemis architecture, modernize acquisition practices, and align programs with the nation’s objectives for sustained lunar presence,” Glaze wrote.

That’s an expensive stage adapter you’ve got there

The least expensive of the four contracts, for the Universal Stage Adapter, is perhaps the most illustrative. NASA contracted with Dynetics in June 2017 to design, test, and build this piece of spaceflight hardware. Made largely of composites, the adapter weighed 9,650 pounds (4.3 metric tons) and stood 33 feet (10 meters) tall.

The original contract awarded to Dynetics totaled $131 million, to which NASA later added $9 million for a payload separation system. At the time the program was canceled earlier this year, the contract value had grown to $353 million, with a delivery date delayed to September 2028. The inspector general’s report projected that the project would likely cost $497 million and not be ready until May 2030.

To be clear: NASA was likely going to pay half a billion dollars for a relatively straightforward stage adaptor. This doesn’t have propulsion or anything like that on board. Also, for some unfathomable reason, it was likely to take 13 years to build.

Another interesting note from the report is that the inspector general did not believe the Lunar Gateway, based on delays with the Habitation and Logistics Outpost, would have been operational until at least 2032. Ars reported last week that NASA formally asked Northrop Grumman to stop work on this module.