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This is the exact explanation. I have submitted some mechanical prints with dimensions in mm to our machinists, and they looked at me like I was just crazy. They literally said "This is America!", like imperial units are the shit. The engineering side of the American space industry works in imperial units exclusively. The science side of course follows SI convention. Honestly, I'm surprised that it's usually not too much of an issue, Mars Polar Lander and other notables aside. Of course, with modern 3D CAD, all I need to do is click about 4 or 5 times, and I can get you the moments of inertia for an entire spacecraft spit out in any system of units you fancy, in any coordinate frame you fancy.