Why does everyone make such a big deal about the RS-25s?!? Getting sentimental about rocket parts is not good, if you throw 4 RS-25s into the ocean, you build 4 new ones! And what about the Saturn 5? With each flight it used 11 perfectly good engines and dumped most of ‘em in the ocean, but that isn’t/wasn’t a problem…
Because it's pretty much like driving a lightly used Bugatti Chiron to work on a 8-minute commute, then driving it into a junkyard compactor, on 16 separate work days. Yep, this gets you to work for a few weeks, but it sure is a waste of perfectly good and very expensive and specialized hardware.
The F-1s weren't made to be reusable. And we still have several F-1s (and even complete Saturn V stacks) in museums. The Apollo program was very successful in its primary objective to get man to the moon, so the return on the investment was good. The RS-25 were specifically designed to be reusable, and their price reflects that capability and the development effort that went into them. They have designed and are fabricating an expendable version of the RS-25 (RS-25E) which supposedly simplifies their construction, improves performance, and lowers the cost (yeah, right), but they are only meant to go into service once all of the OG RS-25s get thrown into the ocean. And the SLS program objectives right now are still Powerpoint talks and not reality, and my sense is that this program will get shut down for the same reasons the post-Apollo Saturn V programs to go beyond the moon were scrapped - lack of political will and public motivation. Wait until the economy really crashes and taxpayers start asking why we're spending billions to throw rockets into the sea.
I really doubt the SLS program will exist long enough for it to finish tossing all of the old RS-25s into the sea. I can see a situation where SLS gets cancelled after a couple of flights and we'll have a warehouse of new RS-25Es with no booster to attach them too. Waste on top of waste on top of waste.
Mission managers wondering to continue operations around a rocket leaking hydrogen. Hmmm .... this is a classic setup where schedule pressure and safety collide, and this is where NASA managers typically buckle under the strain and talk themselves into making bad engineering decisions. I really hope they don't add any injuries or fatalities to the cost tally of this boondoggle.