Isn’t SLS still costing like $4 b’s per launch?

This is why I do not believe in America setting up a permanent lunar base.

The Chinese are basically going to launch a few astronauts up there with a modern Saturn 5. But for them that would be a success because it is their first time.

You only get to land on the moon once before people stop giving a shit.

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dylan604 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> You only get to land on the moon once before people stop giving a shit.

Depends on what happens once on the moon. If all you do is send 2 people at a time to collect rocks, then it does get boring to the general public. If each landing assembles the next section of a moon habitat, then I think the interest sticks around longer.

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echelon 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

> You only get to land on the moon once before people stop giving a shit.

If America (or China) says the best spots on the moon belong to America (or China), suddenly it's Space Race 2.0 and everyone cares.

This is what will happen once any building actually starts happening.

	▲	Dylan16807 27 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		There would have to actually be meaningful best spots. If a base gets de-facto control over a 10 mile circle of arbitrary wasteland, it's not a very compelling claim to fight over.