After nearly two years of heavy thinking, NASA unveiled its plans on Monday to take astronauts back to the moon. It could have saved itself the trouble, as early reports suggest the designers haven’t added much to the Apollo missions that ended 32 years ago.
Lacking the mighty Saturn V rocket, which took the Apollo astronauts to the moon, the plan calls for various components of the space shuttle launch system to be shuffled, stacked and doubled up to provide the boost for crews and cargo. As for the crew capsule, expect an Apollo knock-off, but larger.
Absent from the…
