As much as it’s fun to hate on Musk. The Spaceship program is already cheaper than any other option, even if the second stage never becomes reusable.
If all they do is gut the starship so it’s a little lighter and more reliable, and keep the reusable booster, it’s going to cut the cost of putting large and heavy payloads into orbit.
The James Webb telescope would have been significantly cheaper and easier to build and launch if Starship was available. There was an enormous amount of science that was cut at NASA due to the cost and time overruns from the overly complex build.
It still may never be a real option for lunar missions without the reusability and refueling, but just the ability to send huge things to earth orbit is a giant success.
As much as it’s fun to hate on Musk. The Spaceship program is already cheaper than any other option, even if the second stage never becomes reusable.
If all they do is gut the starship so it’s a little lighter and more reliable, and keep the reusable booster, it’s going to cut the cost of putting large and heavy payloads into orbit.
The James Webb telescope would have been significantly cheaper and easier to build and launch if Starship was available. There was an enormous amount of science that was cut at NASA due to the cost and time overruns from the overly complex build.
It still may never be a real option for lunar missions without the reusability and refueling, but just the ability to send huge things to earth orbit is a giant success.