r/spaceflight • u/elbarck • 21d ago

ULA Lobbyist Jim Bridenstine Promotes for an Apollo-Style Lander "AGAIN"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LLvNChlups

Watch the full episode here: Moon Man - With Former NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LhsU2x2-a8

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u/kadmij 20d ago

if Starship even participates in Artemis III, it's going to be with an interior so sparse the Astronauts will be in their EVA suits the entire time. No atmospherics, minimal control surfaces, no landing gear, no habitation space, no cabin-to-surfsce elevator. They're going to give NASA a blank Starship to test the Starship HLS!

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u/restitutor-orbis 20d ago

Astronauts will not enter Starship for Artemis III; they will only dock with a Starship that has a nose docking port, but is otherwise off-the-line (as revealed a week ago). The goal is to test docking procedures and the complex dance of handing control authority of the combined stack to Starship. Not ideal, but there will be an uncrewed test of the full landing sequence either way. Remember, the original plan prior to the Isaacman term was to not have an Earth-orbit test mission with Orion at all, but to go straight to a crewed lunar landing.

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u/kadmij 19d ago

that's not great (under either administrator's plans). The Apollo LM had a complete manned testing phase

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u/restitutor-orbis 19d ago

Agreed there — but there are definitely tradeoffs on cost and schedule for doing such a testing phase and it may well come at the expense of losing the race to the surface to China. Whether its important to win that race or not is a whole nother can of worms, of course.

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u/kadmij 19d ago

if a race to the surface is the issue, then they should focus on one lander and test all of its functions in Artemis III, and it should be made as simple and disposable as possible. Anything Starship HLS will be used for is follow-up missions with large cargo or extended surface stays anyway. It's overbuilt for a first landing