[jarwulf]

I really think we should’ve continued to aim for Mars rather than the moon. Seems halfhearted to me. Stupid PR stunts like mandating gender of the astronauts in this program also seem silly.

[dsrtsage]

We shouldnt be wasting money on science when we should be spending 93 trillion on fake science

[SunkenCiv]

Von Braun's plan was to use the Saturn V booster to assemble a Mars mission in LEO, and estimated (probably a very good estimate) that it would take ten S5 launches to complete the assembly.

[who_would_fardels_bear]

If we go to the moon first, wouldn't it be possible to mine a sufficient amount of soil, put it up in orbit, and fashion a shield so that it could be used to protect astronauts from solar radiation on their way to Mars?

Or are we just going to tell the Mars astronauts that they will most likely die soon after their visit?