On 26 Sep 2005 11:02:47 -0700, "Daniel Schmelzer"
wrote:

Looking at Skylab at the Air and Space Museum, it is a surprisingly
impressive structure. However, I note that a space structure of
roughly equal volume to Skylab could be orbited in the near-term
timeframe with two EELV Heavy-class launches launching two Bigelow
BA-330 modules at a total price tag of about $300 million. We have
better methods of getting things done nowadays.


And there's another thing: although it's hard to tell EXACTLY where
the departure stage starts, looking at a side-by-side comparision with
the Saturn V (
http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/1...rison_full.jpg ),
it looks like the departure stage is a bit bigger than the S-IVB
stage, so much so that unless you wanted to replace the ISS with a
station you could launch in one shot and have the same capabilities,
it would be overkill.

I imagine the cargo vehicle's LEO payload would be enough to put a
decent-sized vehicle in LEOt. But now that I have a clearer idea of
the size comparison, using the departure stage as a dry workshoop
might be going overboard. A cool idea, but maybe too much for what we
need, especially remembering that many years the Russians operated
their stations WITHOUT the benefit of a Saturn V class lifter.

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