Originally posted by VitalOverdose
I don't even see why they need a new rocket design if the Apollo rockets did so well 40 years ago.
We want the ability to land at very high latitudes, even at the poles if need be, and we want to stay on the surface for much longer than we ever have before. Last but not least, we want to be able to reuse the capsules. Apollo's equipment cannot provide that kind of capability.
The shuttle wasn't designed to go to the moon, true, but Ares I is supposed to provide us with the ability to transfer crews to and from ISS, which would have been the role of the shuttle after station construction was completed. Sadly Ares will not give us the cargo capacity though, but we should still be able to bring back limited amounts that can fit within the living space (which is far more than a Soyuz).
[edit on 28-10-2009 by ngchunter]




