Re:Orion has splashed down off the coast of Baja, California
by pfdietz on Sunday December 11, 2022 @10:24PM
(#33950502)
Sure, but once you're in space things can become easier, with high Isp engines and in situ propellant production. It's not necessarily all chemical rockets with fuel lifted from Earth.
It scales a lot with gravity. Compare the cost of a vehicle capable of reaching lunar orbit (e.g. the Eagle), with the cost of getting humans into Earth orbit (e.g. the Mercury-Atlas). And the Eagle carried two people.