We seem to be making some progress. The problem with all the mass that doesn't contribute to the mission is that you have to speed it up to achieve escape velocity to break free of the earth's gravity and then slow it down again to achieve a lunar orbit. That takes fuel. The 40,000 lb payload capacity of the shuttle just wasn't enough to make the trip.
They could have assembled a lunar mission in orbit, but it would have taken 3 launches to get the amount of supplies they need to start the mission. The shuttles took an extremely long time to refit for launch and they were unreliable at best even when they made it to the launch pad.
There were some other practical problems too. The radiative cooling system would only work in low earth orbit, for one thing. That shuttle was such a piece of crap. I was so glad when they cancelled the program.
of course it does but its a straw man argument to say thats why they didnt send the shuttle..
We seem to be making some progress. The problem with all the mass that doesn't contribute to the mission is that you have to speed it up to achieve escape velocity to break free of the earth's gravity and then slow it down again to achieve a lunar orbit. That takes fuel. The 40,000 lb payload capacity of the shuttle just wasn't enough to make the trip.
They could have assembled a lunar mission in orbit, but it would have taken 3 launches to get the amount of supplies they need to start the mission. The shuttles took an extremely long time to refit for launch and they were unreliable at best even when they made it to the launch pad.
There were some other practical problems too. The radiative cooling system would only work in low earth orbit, for one thing. That shuttle was such a piece of crap. I was so glad when they cancelled the program.