Today's interesting graph

gb wrote:

They also are talking about a Marc landing mission taking a total
of 10 launches!

6 by uprated Saturn V-25(S)U - and 4 by Saturn 1B for logistics
modules.


I suspect they were more right than wrong in those days, and those
days were not that much different than these days as far as launch/
propulsion/life support technologies are concerned. Once the VSE
gets serious, if it does, I would expect to see similar numbers
come out -- unless a *lot* of up-front money and time is put into
improving the relevant technologies.

Which improvements I would recommend, should the White House ever
call to ask for my opinion about such matters. It hasn't yet, but
perhaps that's on its to-do list.