Funny time to complain about this, a few days after SpaceX confirms that it will be building a 9-Raptor engine, 6-9M lbf methalox launch vehicle comparable in scope per core to the Saturn V, and suggests strongly that they're going to make a 3-core configuration.
Ultimately we (our representatives in Congress) decided in ~1970 that actual exploration was simply too expensive. Political goal accomplished, Moon reached, Soviets cowed, mission over. Instead we would pay endless lip service to the idea while cutting budgets as far as possible. The design-by-committee-session Shuttle was a ridiculous project in a dozen different ways and failed to do much of anything (including being cheap), beyond two key elements: firstly, being impossible to cancel. Second, it waved the flag for the notional romance of space in an age of decay, when we became disinterested in funding and structuring programs at a sufficient level to innovate or even seek out the maximum return per dollar by choosing appropriate technology.
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Funny time to complain about this, a few days after SpaceX confirms that it will be building a 9-Raptor engine, 6-9M lbf methalox launch vehicle comparable in scope per core to the Saturn V, and suggests strongly that they're going to make a 3-core configuration.
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=34015.msg11...
Ultimately we (our representatives in Congress) decided in ~1970 that actual exploration was simply too expensive. Political goal accomplished, Moon reached, Soviets cowed, mission over. Instead we would pay endless lip service to the idea while cutting budgets as far as possible. The design-by-committee-session Shuttle was a ridiculous project in a dozen different ways and failed to do much of anything (including being cheap), beyond two key elements: firstly, being impossible to cancel. Second, it waved the flag for the notional romance of space in an age of decay, when we became disinterested in funding and structuring programs at a sufficient level to innovate or even seek out the maximum return per dollar by choosing appropriate technology.
http://idlewords.com/2005/08/a_rocket_to_nowhere.htm
SLS and Orion explicitly continue in this legacy. I'm hoping Elon Musk's motivations outlast the US Congress's.