"Cardman" wrote in message
news
On Mon, 1 Aug 2005 14:55:26 +0200, "Henk Boonsma"
wrote:

Judging from the plans salvaged by The Orlando Sentinel the 'new' Moon
plans
look like a continuation of the Apollo project, *on a tight budget*.

That is indeed true enough. The only real difference is a large
technology update. However, in this case it is not "flags and
footprints", but construction, exploration, research and still going
places where no one has been before.

I'm even more skeptical of the claim that the hardware can be reused for
a
Mars misson.

And you are right to be. This system would indeed need a serious
upgrade before NASA launched anyone towards Mars.

The reuse of Shuttle hardware to built a hardware booster and a crew
launch
vehicle seems sensible given the cost constraints, but the usage of a
solid
first stage seems risky to me.

The SRBs carry some risk, but NASA has not yet messed up in that area
at least. There is also no better option for getting some nice mass
quick and cheap into orbit and beyond.

Their astronauts will certainly have a rapid and bumpy ride to orbit
now that these SRBs are not being held back by the Shuttle and ET
mass.

I was thinking the same thing! The G-forces will be almost unbearable when
this thing rockets off the launch pad, I'm pretty sure that it will require
some training to withstand and will toughen the medical requirements for
aspiring astronauts. The ride is certainly not something you would want
paying passengers to endure.