🚀 go-pugleaf

The reason Shuttle costs are so much more than projected is that the
Shuttle requires this army to maintain it between flights.  Hydrogen
isn't much more expensive than expected, and I doubt the solid fuel
is either.  When the Shuttle was first proposed, the idea of operating
it like an airline was part of the plan from the beginning.  It
turned out that the Shuttle operated too close to the limits of the
materials and structures of which it was made.  That's why it needs
so much maintenance.

If someone proposes a new reusable vehicle for going to earth orbit,
it is reasonable to ask why its maintenance costs can be expected to
be a lot less than those of the Shuttle.  Any answer you get needs to
be evaluated skeptically.
--
John McCarthy, Computer Science Department, Stanford, CA 94305
*
He who refuses to do arithmetic is doomed to talk nonsense.