That design presumes a 1960s US industrial base, which no longer exists.
The real problem, here, is that we quit going to the Moon back in 1972. This means we have to start from scratch in many respects. We know it can be done, but we still have to (re)invent things. We should have been flying around the Earth-Moon system, and beyond, all these years, and gradually improving our spacecraft. We should have spacecraft right now, with evolutionary heritage back to Apollo ... but we don't. We have a cradle-to-grave welfare state, instead. That's what the democRATs wanted. Can't have Whitey on the Moon; that's racist.
What a peculiar take on this.
We’ve had 50 years of “if they can put a man on the Moon, then why can’t they ...” (fill in your favorite pet social welfare project.)
Agree, except perhaps the last sentence. Doubt if that was the reason but certainly is one of the consequences.
Maybe if you whine more (and louder) that’ll change the last 50 years.
Elon Musk has created a lot of stuff from scratch.
And has created liftoff modules that return to the earth and land upright. Unmanned.
I bet Musk could land one of them on the moon now if it wanted to. Get a bunch of corporations to sponsor it and it could be done with a profit.
Tricky Dick ended the manned space program. Typical Nixon stunt. He didn’t see any more political gain in going to the moon but he could slice some millions off the budget if the program was ended. Nixon often had a wrong end of the telescope view as he constantly searched for some way to get himself the public stature he so desperately sought.