[ARCADIA]

NASA does not and never has developed anything. Their job is to propose a mission, provide the funding, and manage the private contractors who actually generate the bulk of the research. It is private enterprise at work; the public funding subsidizes the raw reseach, and it is awarded on a competitive basis. No private company can afford to expose themselves as NASA does; NASA shield private enterprise and allows its technology to advance in quantum leaps. Of course that only works as long as there is a challenge. That excludes going back to a Gemini program no matter how efficient it may be.

[burzum]

I agree with you except where you think that we are going back to Gemini and Apollo. I like compare Apollo to the Trieste. The Trieste was able to go to the deepest part of the ocean, take some measurements, and return. Because it was able to go to the deepest part of the ocean, it was famous and historic. But it certainly wasn't able to allow humans to survive down there, or even be there for an extended period of time.

The CEV is not the Trieste. It is not going to go to the Moon, look at a couple of things, and come back. It is an infrastructure of technologies that will allow us to build a base on the Moon, survive long duration spaceflights, and eventually go to Mars.

I think it is more apt to say that the CEV may mix the aerodynamic properties and some of the simplicity of Apollo while also including the habitability technologies learned on the Space Shuttle, MIR, and the ISS.

To simplify it down as much as I can: the CEV will allow us to build a Moon base, something Apollo could never do.