On Wed, 20 May 2009 09:40:29 -0700, dumpster4 wrote:

"Space bigwigs in Russia and Europe are working on ambitious plans for
an international space shipyard in orbit above the Earth, according to
reports. The orbital shipyard would be used to assemble manned
spacecraft capable of travelling to the Moon or Mars."

Source:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/05...d_discussions/

I can see some logic to this. It is possible that this has advantages.

It avoids having to develop a true heavy lift capability. You can make
small man rated rockets to lift people; and larger, higher g non-man
rated rockets for freight.

On the down side, you have the difficulty of manufacturing in
microgravity and you also have to bring up the manufacturing
infrastructure.

What you really want to do is... (wait for it) ... build a manufacturing
plant on Mars. Once on Mars, you can use Martian materials, so you don't
have to bring as much mass up.