[nordsieck]

> To justify pumping billions of USD into Shuttle-era contractors who would've otherwise gone bankrupt a decade ago.

You might have a case with Aerojet Rocketdyne - not sure if they can survive on RL-10 sales alone. But the others: Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Northrup Grumman, aren't depending on SLS contracts to survive. It's just a nice cherry on top of their defense and commercial contracts.

[gatonegro]

You're right, that was somewhat hyperbolic on my part. Last time I checked, AR was in rough shape after losing the contract for the Vulcan first stage engines to Blue Origin. Losing SLS would probably break them, but the rest aren't in such dire straits.