things have been a bit dry here – time to shake things up

mission to the moon

plan 1: a winged shuttle atop a saturn V takes off and is put into orbit attached to a third stage. the third stage is fired and the shuttle goes to the moon

in moon orbit the shuttle doors open and the lunar lander leaves the shuttle with a 3 man crew. a smaller 3 man lunar lander is held in reserve in the spare space in the cargo bay, this a bare bones lander designed purely for rescue if the proper lander fails.

the lander returns with the crew and the shuttle and third stage fire for earth orbit

once in earth orbit the third stage is dropped off to build a space station from the third stage

the shuttle returns safely to earth using atmospheric braking with the lunar lander – both rescue and operational landers are stripped ready for another mission

> saturn V

Rubbish launcher, in terms of inefficiency second only to the Space Shuttle.

Make it a Soyuz, Delta IV Heavy or Falcon 9 Heavy.

What are the advantages of your scheme, wookie?

I think it was either Lord Bertrand Russell or Zarkov who said
“Be very sceptical of logical argument, one false premise and the whole thing is wrong.”

dv said:

What are the advantages of your scheme, wookie?

it’s safer

you can reuse the equipment

both lander and shuttle can be used

the third stage is used to build much larger space station in orbit

plain old kerosene is used to launch first and second stage

Peak Warming Man said:

I think it was either Lord Bertrand Russell or Zarkov who said
“Be very sceptical of logical argument, one false premise and the whole thing is wrong.”

Be even more sceptical of illogical argument.

i just like the idea of a winged aircraft flying around the moon

it would look cool

What I’d like to see is an orbiting hotel here.
Then as an extension of services, have a shuttle that flies from there to a low single approach over the Moon then return to Earth orbit, either via aero-braking in the upper atmosphere or rocket-power to slow it back into orbit.
Then a little further in that future a longer trip that had a few orbits around the Moon before returning. I reckon there’d be a few takers in that, and it wouldn’t be an insane amount more money once you were already in Earth orbit.

>>What I’d like to see is an orbiting hotel here.

You’re going to need gravity otherwise there’d be shit everywhere.
There’s no way cashed up bogans will be able to use the weightless toilets.

you could have a floating hotel 30 km up in the atmosphere

the hotel would have a huge runway where ships could fly to
the orbital hotel

How many rich people would be fit enough to enjoy a holiday in space, I wonder. What with the g-force and weightlessness and space sickness etc.

Bubblecar said:

How many rich people would be fit enough to enjoy a holiday in space, I wonder. What with the g-force and weightlessness and space sickness etc.

And shit everywhere.

Peak Warming Man said:

Bubblecar said:

How many rich people would be fit enough to enjoy a holiday in space, I wonder. What with the g-force and weightlessness and space sickness etc.

And shit everywhere.

ROFL, don’t put that on the brochure