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A comment on NASA’s Orion spacecraft reaches the moon, flying 81 miles above the surface. Parent comment

Re:NASA’s Orion spacecraft reaches the moon, flying 81 miles... by thebigman433 on Monday November 21, 2022 @09:14PM (#33700932)
> But if they had reusability, they might have been able to fly it more often, thus helping make it cheaper on average to fly.

This is true, but the issue is that there just isnt the need for it really. Very, very few missions actually require a SHLV. There just arent enough payloads atm, and that probably wouldnt change a ton even if the rocket was cheaper

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Re:NASA’s Orion spacecraft reaches the moon, flying 81 miles... by dotnet00 on Monday November 21, 2022 @09:49PM (#33701144)
Plenty of the things needed for establishing the sustainable long-term presence on the Moon that Artemis claims to aim for would benefit immensely from a cheaper SHLV that can fly more often. That's entirely why Starship ended up being such a valuable deal for NASA. Even the NASA OIG has been saying for a few years now that SLS with its current cost structure and flight rate is not compatible with Artemis's goal of being sustainable.
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