"“Artemis 8” using Dragon" Topic

"A mission equivalent to Apollo 8—call it "Artemis 8"—could be done, potentially as soon as this year, using Dragon, Falcon Heavy, and Falcon 9.

The basic plan is to launch a crew to low Earth orbit in Dragon using a Falcon 9. Then launch a Falcon Heavy, and rendezvous in LEO with its upper stage, which will still contain plenty of propellant. The Falcon Heavy upper stage is then used to send the Dragon on Trans Lunar Injection (TLI), and potentially Lunar Orbit Capture (LOC) and Trans Earth Injection (TEI) as well…"
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Amicalement
Armand

I wouldn't take this proposal too seriously. This is Robert Zubrin performing a napkin sketch of an Apollo 8 style mission in order to create the political conditions to cancel what he sees as the dark hole in NASA's budget: The SLS (AKA the Senate Launch System), or as one of my engineer friends call it, proof that pork can fly if given sufficient funds.

At best, this is a shot across the bow of Senator Richard Shelby and the Alabama rocket mafia in congress to dump the SLS.

Also, SpaceX was considering a free-return trip to the moon as a private tourist flight, but canceled it to focus on the BFR project since human-rating the Falcon Heavy wasn't worth the paperwork for 1-2 human flights.

*Editor, let me know if I'm sailing too close to the wind here, but much of what going on in US spaceflight is tied to the whims and fortunes of the Senior Senator from Alabama. It was reported last year that Senator Shelby was instrumental in preventing further NASA research into on-orbit propellant depots since that would threaten the multi-billion dollar SLS project. link
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Thanks!

Amicalement
Armand

Eric Berger of Ars Technica looks at the Zubrin's "Grey Dragon redux" plan.

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Thanks Martin!.

Amicalement
Armand