/sci/ - Science & Math

>>16286216
fpbp

>>15311681
>Continuing the Saturn program might have been better short term (which, mind you, is only obvious with hindsight)
sometimes I like to imagine if they had decided to give the Saturn 5 an extra 10 years of life and had just ordered maybe ten more from the production line instead of shutting it down, with this extra time and Saturn hardware we could have gone ahead with the planned Apollo moon landings in the mid 70s such as Apollos 18, 19, and 20, and still had Saturn 5 rockets available to construct a station in the late 70s, maybe one constructed from multiple Saturn 5 launches (I like to imagine the construction of a Space Station Independence beginning in 1976 and coinciding with the bicentennial) and we still would have had a few left for dream missions like a big long-duration rover landed on the moon or a huge probe launched towards Mars or Jupiter or wherever. I also think they could have developed a cheaper 1st stage that used 3 or 4 F-1s (a case could probably have even been made for developing a slimmed down rocket that used a single F-1 and maybe strap-ons as needed for resupply missions, etc) and I think following this late 70s/early 80s "golden age of Apollo/Saturn" they could have developed a follow on (shuttle? something else?) and enjoyed the 10 years of technological development to make a better and safer product that would have been better than the 70s designed and built shuttle. Oh well.

>>15311681
>Continuing the Saturn program might have been better short term (which, mind you, is only obvious with hindsight)
sometimes I like to imagine if they had decided to give the Saturn 5 an extra 10 years of life and had just ordered maybe ten more from the production line instead of shutting it down, with this extra time and Saturn hardware we could have gone ahead with the planned Apollo moon landings in the mid 70s such as Apollos 18, 19, and 20, and still had Saturn 5 rockets available to construct a station in the late 70s, maybe one constructed from multiple Saturn 5 launches (I like to imagine the construction of a Space Station Independence beginning in 1976 and coinciding with the bicentennial) and we still would have had a few left for dream missions like a big long-duration rover landed on the moon or a huge probe launched towards Mars or Jupiter or wherever. I also think they could have developed a cheaper 1st stage that used 3 or 4 F-1s ( a case could probably have even been made for a slimmed down first stage that used a single F-1 and maybe strap-ons as needed for resupply missions, etc) and I think following this late 70s/early 80s "golden age of Apollo/Saturn" they could have developed a follow on (shuttle? something else?) and enjoyed the 10 years of technological development to make a better and safer product that would have been better than the 70s designed and built shuttle. Oh well.

>>15028486
too bad they didn't fire off a couple more of these in the mid-70s and build a real space station

>>12730832
I like this pic