Quote:
Originally Posted by jyl
There is a difference between developing new technology and hardware, and simply recreating past hardware based on old technology, especially when you have a exemplar to copy, some of the original data, and even some of the original people, and you know its going to work.
Look at the original program. NASA spent 2 years developing alternative rockets and finally selecting the Saturn V design (1960-1962) then they had to develop the Saturn V design. The first Saturn V flight was in 1967, 5 years later.
In our hypothetical, which is that the USA decides to recreate the Apollo missions with the same urgency and committment as before, you can skip the first 2 years, and you can greatly shorten the next 5 years.
Ares/Constellation is a brand new program being done on a constrained budget with no great sense of urgency.
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We could not make a Saturn V rocket. The manufacturing base no longer exists, the blueprints are gone, the production facilities don't exist.
Much in the way we could not make a new Iowa Class battleship, or an F-14, even if we wanted to.