Brian Thorn wrote:

:On 23 Oct 2005 03:56:21 -0700, "Alex Terrell"
:wrote:
:
:But how can you get a descent lunar lander, capable of landing ~10 tons
:on the lunar surface, into the 5.2m dimater faring offered by SpaceX
:(or Boeing, LM, or the Stick)?
:
:Can this be done without orbital assembley?
:
:Maybe, but the simplest solution would be to launch the lander without
:any fuel tanks first, and then attach fuel tanks (launched seperately
r uninstalled on the same launcher.) in orbit. That would take some
:ISS-like assembly, though.

And you're back to talking about assembly of pressure fittings in
space. This is almost always a bad idea, particularly for relatively
high pressure fittings like fuel feed lines.

Space assembly is HARD, people. It's difficult and clumsy work.

--
"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable
man persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore,
all progress depends on the unreasonable man."
--George Bernard Shaw