Apollo vs Orion

[Simpo Two]

It seems that Orion/Delta IV (thankyou Eric ) may just have enough of a toehold to survive and develop. Obama copied some of Kennedy's speech and there seems to be a bit of genuine excitement.

Just maybe we are coming to the end of 20 years of PC and 'send the money to Africa', and are getting back to what humans do best?

If we think of the Apollo programme - essentially 10 years from conception to Moon - how does Orion compare with it? Apollo progressed in clear steps, each step testing the next phase from Earth orbit to Moon landing. I still have the Super Mousse mission badges

Is Orion essentially just 30% bigger with a potential to go very much further? And which bits of the 'tech' needed to get to Mars do we lack? Could Orion match Apollo's progress, but with 'Moon' crossed out and 'Mars' written on in crayon?

[Simpo Two]

I guess it's all to do with gravity wells. I see a sort of comparison with the early polar explorers. You can't carry everything you need to get to the objective from the start in one go, so you have to build caches along the way. Each cache is stocked with what you need to get to the next one (and the burden is doubled if you want to get back of course). So you could work it out in reverse - start with a capsule parachuting into the Pacific Ocean at the end of its mission, multiply it up backwards, and what you end up with is what you need to start...

[Simpo Two]

Not if it's part of the plan Roast dinners all the way home!