They aren't building moon rockets, but it is an urban myth that they don't have the records or intellectual resources to duplicate the Saturn 5.
I didn't say that NASA did not have the records or plans for an updated Saturn V. They are on microfilm at Marshall Space Center...the problem is that NASA can no longer have the required parts manufactured and it has forgotten how to put them all together.
And since Werner von Braun made the conscious decision to subcontract all the work out to save time, and those sub contractors are now long out of business, there's nobody around who can actually build a new version of the Saturn V.
Saturn V Got Us To the Moon, and Then Disappeared
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Even IF all the records and blueprints were lost/gathering dust in grandpa’s attic (as the article implies) it would be a simple matter of reverse engineering of the TWO existing Saturn V systems.
Remember in 1976 Soviet pilot Viktor Belenko defected to Japan with a brand new MiG25 fighter/interceptor, and it was reverse engineered and sent back to Moscow (in boxes mind you) in just a couple of weeks. Granted the Saturn V is a much larger item, but it’s no more sophisticated than a state of the art fighter jet designed 15 years later!
To claim there is nobody that knows the whole system is a red herring as well, since no single person knew the whole system in the first place.
Using modern tools and techniques, an upgraded Saturn V could likely be on a launchpad within a couple of years after starting a re-development program, since the hard work of determining whether it can fly has already been done. It’s just a matter of putting it back together, with modern materials and technology.
Then again, does the determination and zeal for discovery still exist? If not, we’re all just wasting our breath and time discussing what-ifs.