Going Back to the Moon You Say?

Here's the link. I think Curmudgeons has already blogged on it.

Blah, blah, blah... And finally the good stuff:

NASA’s plan, according to briefing charts obtained by SPACE.com, envisions beginning a sustained lunar exploration campaign in 2018 by landing four astronauts on the Moon for a seven-day stay.

Why four? What did they figure double Apollo was a nice round number? Four? It's like the weirdest number ever. At least in the early space program everything was done in three's... Three, what a nice round number...

The expedition would begin, these charts show, by launching the lunar lander and Earth departure stage (essentially a giant propulsion module) on a heavy-lift launch vehicle that would be lifted into orbit by five space shuttle main engines and a pair of five-segment shuttle solid rocket boosters.

The Stick. It's all "The Stick" with these people. It's either "The Stick" launcher or something else Shuttle derived. I think the whole jist of using Shuttle derived tech is supposed to be that the R&D costs would be much lower... Somehow I question that logic. Everyone assumes that NASA acts rationally. Maybe they do some of the time, and maybe they will this time, but my money is on them making a $200 toilet seat. When you think NASA can't screw something up with the financials - think twice - at least that's my motto.

Once the Earth departure stage and lunar lander are safely in orbit, NASA would launch the Crew Exploration Vehicle capsule atop a new launcher built from a four-segment shuttle solid rocket booster and an upper stage powered by a single space shuttle main engine.

See now this I can't understand. If we want to do things cheaply, why not minimize the number of launches? Especially considering the fact that range costs are the highest components of launch costs. Apollo managed to get the whole enchilada in space in one get go. Now mind you they weren't trying to get 4 bumbs up there, but still I would bet that this launch system in the end will cost more inflation adjusted than the antiquated forty year old tech that got us to the moon the first time around.

The CEV would then dock with the lunar lander and Earth departure stage and begin its several day journey to the Moon.

NASA’s plan envisions being able to land four-person human crews anywhere on the Moon’s surface and to eventually use the system to transport crew members to and from a lunar outpost that it would consider building on the lunar south pole, according to the charts, because of the regions elevated quantities of hydrogen and possibly water ice...

This isn't good enough. "...to eventually use..." That's just another codeword for "not in a million years." How many other times has NASA planned "to eventually use" a launch vehicle for space colonization or exploration? The Shuttle was originally intented to be used to help colonize low earth orbit. Instead it become a satellite delivery system. It was cargo transport in a world that didn't need cargo transport but needed human transport.

It's human colonization or bust. And all I see in this is another recipe for a flag planting exercise like the first Moon missions were... Hopefully I'm wrong, and NASA isn't so prone to screwing up.