Unusual things I think about sometimes...

[fencerm2]

Sometimes I have the oddest thoughts at the oddest times.

Earlier this afternoon, for no reason whatsoever, I was pondering the loss of our nation's ability to readily send people to space.  The Shuttle is retired, and its replacement is not scheduled to be ready til 2015, which we all know means 2020 at the EARLIEST.  Thus NASA will rely on the Russian space program and their Soyuz craft, and the likes of SpaceX and their Dragon capsule to get our astronauts to the ISS and such.

So I was thinking - rather than reinvent the wheel - why can't they just return to Apollo?  I mean, the Saturn V rocket for the Apollo program is solid, the command module is a tried and tested design - and how much can it be refined if you swap out 1960's computer technology with 21st century tech? 

Seriously - why the hell has no one asked this question?  Why can't we just take the Apollo design, modernize it (which I bet would allow for a roomier interior in the capsule) and get this up-and-running in a year or two?

Comments

[lord-strider.livejournal.com]

What would be cool is a low orbit station. use the new or beefed up unit to get to the station take another unit from low orbit out to the ISS. Best of both worlds if the second unit was reusable.