In article , Alex Terrell wrote:
If the US has decided that the moon is the right place to go, would an
equatorial launch base make sense?

How much would this improve the mass to Lunar Orbit?

Could this base be shared with the russians? I think the russian space
program has been handicapped by operating out of such high latitudes.

I can just imagine the fun and games if the US cut a deal to share the
Russian near-equatorial facility... at Kourou...

Heh. For sheer impracticality, the closest US territory I can find to
the equator is... Baker Island. Population, um, bird****. It was briefly
colonised, but somewhat adversely affected by the War, it being about
half a square mile in area, and most importantly there being almost
exactly nothing interesting there.

http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/...k/geos/fq.html
http://www.janeresture.com/baker/

--
-Andrew Gray