Whatever happened to single launch crewed Moon missions?
This post is about pitching a bit of alternative history -- a wistful what-could-have-been. But to do that, I need to give a bit of background. A Bit of History Most people know something about the Apollo program, with the massive Saturn Vs that sent a capsule and a lander to the Moon to land two guys with every launch. And some know about the limitations and idiosyncrasies and heritage of Artemis, the modern-day crewed lunar program of the US and international partners. But not all do, so I'll provide a bit of background. Artemis is the programmatic descendant of Constellation, an abandoned Bush II era program that was described by its chief proponent, then NASA Administrator Michael Griffin, as "Apollo on Steroids". A bigger capsule and a bigger lander, launched on a bigger rocket would take 4 astronauts, rather than 2, to the lunar surface for longer stays in greater safety and comfort. It turned out to be too difficult to develop a human-rated rocket powerful enough t