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Why is it the US wanted to develop a new spacecraft to return to the moon? Why can't they develop a bigger booster to fit with the shuttle and carry the shutte to the moon? Wouldn't this save costs?

2007-03-19 00:36:49 · 13 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics Engineering

They can put the lunar module in the cargo bay behind the shuttle. When they reach the moon, they can launch the lunar module from the cargo bay and land it on the moon. Is this okay?

2007-03-19 01:48:14 · update #1

13 answers

It would take too much fuel to send the shuttle to the moon. You couldn't build a booster that would lift the mass of the shuttle, the mass of the extra fuel needed to reach the moon and it's own mass.

2007-03-19 00:41:52 · answer #1 · answered by greymatter 6 · 3 0

Retro-fitting the shuttle with what it needs to reach the moon and back would require a whole new drawing board design. This is what they plan to do. Also, the space shuttle isn't big enough to fit another shuttle inside of it, capable of landing and descending an exploration from the moon.

2007-03-19 08:08:55 · answer #2 · answered by joshnya68 4 · 1 0

Because the Shuttle design is getting on a bit now....... the first flight being made on 12th April 1981... some 26years ago, and as I recall from reading some of the stuff that came out after the Columbia was destroyed, it was discovered numerous parts of the design were choices made by Political compromises they THOUGHT at the time would be cheaper to run than what they'd used before..... but in retrospect turns out to be ALOT more expensive.

2007-03-21 11:33:49 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1 0

This is not so much an answer, but something for you to consider. The shuttle is designed to launch like a rocket, and land like a airplane. But how do you land it on the moon when there's no atmosphere? Not to mention a nice, "smooth" runway to set wheels on.

2007-03-19 00:53:02 · answer #4 · answered by knowitall 4 · 2 2

The shuttle is only designed for low Earth orbit. It is just the wrong technology for a moonshot. It barely gets into space!

2007-03-19 00:44:55 · answer #5 · answered by Avondrow 7 · 2 0

the shuttle is old technology, materials and engineering practices are vastly improved, remember columbia being destroyed, it would cut costs but also cost lives

2007-03-19 00:41:43 · answer #6 · answered by SCOTT B 2 · 1 0

They're thinking way ahead on this one...
they will say it's all about space exploration and all...
We have always prided ourselves in being number one. They want to control the majority of the moon over their future competitors

2007-03-19 00:41:32 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 2 1

because it has never been there before and needs something completely new to do it.

The shuttle was fairly advanced and still cost them several lives, to do the moon safely they need new technology.

2007-03-19 00:42:53 · answer #8 · answered by dsclimb1 5 · 1 2

It's a matter of the warranty running out.

2007-03-19 00:44:00 · answer #9 · answered by Master_of_my_own_domain 4 · 1 0

They're not interested in saving costs - the agency is too bureaucratic, too old, too old-fashioned to change

2007-03-19 00:40:10 · answer #10 · answered by Ya-sai 7 · 0 1

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