NASA may alter Artemis III to have Starship and Orion dock in low-Earth orbit
arstechnica.com
If it were to happen, a revised Artemis III mission could echo Apollo 9.
  • Lugh@futurology.todayOPMEnglish
    7·
    6 months ago

    NASA really is stuck between a rock and a hard place when it comes to its lunar plans. Its SLS system is a disaster, but pork barrel politics means it can’t ditch it. So it lives on, zombie-like, to suck the life and money out of better options.

    Meanwhile, it’s placed all its eggs in a SpaceX basket. That company is run by someone who routinely exaggerates timelines for delivery and fails to meet them. Guess what? It’s happening again. A commenter on the OP article sums up what SpaceX has to do before humans can go back to the Moon.

    • Re-light Starship engines
    • Achieve stable orbit
    • Dock with another Starship
    • Transfer propellant
    • Use transferred propellant
    • Dock with Orion and/or Dragon
    • Design a life support system for a volume much larger than Dragon
    • Build life support system
    • Test life support
    • Achieve escape velocity for TLI
    • Demo propulsive landing on Luna
    • Demo takeoff from Luna after sitting idle
    • Dock with Gateway (?) up and down
  • Blackout@kbin.run
    2·
    6 months ago

    My moon landing is still set for 2026. Already scheduled the Uber. Anyone want me to bring them back a T-shirt