Moon Base ''Questionable,'' John Glenn Says

Platapus · 08-01-08, 12:59 PM

As much as it pains me to agree with anything John Glenn says, I can see his point.

If the objective under consideration is whether "placing a base on the moon to facilitate human exploration of outer space" is the best solution, I would have to agree.

An orbiting station would probably be the best way to assemble a spacecraft for interplanetary travel.

The problem is that the orbiting station has to be in the "right" orbit to facilitate travel. Not just any orbit will do. So since the moon is orbiting the earth (or more precisely both are orbiting each other) the question should be "is the moon in the orbit that makes it easier to travel to other planets?"

If the answer is no, which I expect, then building an earth orbiting station in the proper orbit would be the most feasible.

ps for further reading, I can highly recommend the book "Understanding Space"
http://www.astrobooks.com/index.asp?...OD&ProdID=1020

08-01-08, 12:59 PM	#1
Platapus Fleet Admiral Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 19,407 Downloads: 63 Uploads: 0	As much as it pains me to agree with anything John Glenn says, I can see his point. If the objective under consideration is whether "placing a base on the moon to facilitate human exploration of outer space" is the best solution, I would have to agree. An orbiting station would probably be the best way to assemble a spacecraft for interplanetary travel. The problem is that the orbiting station has to be in the "right" orbit to facilitate travel. Not just any orbit will do. So since the moon is orbiting the earth (or more precisely both are orbiting each other) the question should be "is the moon in the orbit that makes it easier to travel to other planets?" If the answer is no, which I expect, then building an earth orbiting station in the proper orbit would be the most feasible. ps for further reading, I can highly recommend the book "Understanding Space" http://www.astrobooks.com/index.asp?...OD&ProdID=1020 __________________ abusus non tollit usum - A right should NOT be withheld from people on the basis that some tend to abuse that right.