Price for an LEO launch of the Falcon Heavy (29+ tonne payload) is just
$94.5 million - Delta IV Heavy is currently $250 million + with a smaller
payload.

http://www.spacex.com/falcon9_heavy.php also quotes a price for "TLI
missions" - why do I get the feeling that Elon Musk want's to be the 13th
person on the Moon... The F9H would get a 3-3.5 tonne payload onto the
surface. That brings up the possibility of something like the Langley
Lander/ Langley Lander Light and a modified Gemini-sized spacecraft.
Interesting stuff!

I've heard mention of a much larger engine for the Falcon series - F-1 power
levels - if this is done, then my Delta V might be better named Falcon Extra
Heavy or similar.

Price for an LEO launch of the Falcon Heavy (29+ tonne payload) is just
$94.5 million - Delta IV Heavy is currently $250 million + with a smaller
payload.

http://www.spacex.com/falcon9_heavy.php also quotes a price for "TLI
missions" - why do I get the feeling that Elon Musk want's to be the 13th
person on the Moon... The F9H would get a 3-3.5 tonne payload onto the
surface.

NASA was quoted well over $400 million for a Delta IV-H. (So much for
cost savings versus Titan IV...)

http://www.spacex.com/falcon9_heavy.php also quotes a price for "TLI
missions" - why do I get the feeling that Elon Musk want's to be the 13th
person on the Moon... The F9H would get a 3-3.5 tonne payload onto the
surface.

He has to make a rocket that works first. Any rocket. Just get one
into orbit, and no song-and-dance about how *almost* working is cause
for celebration.

"Brian Thorn" <bthorn64@suddenlink.net> wrote in message
news:l8m104d7l1b3brtlla24t83gukeiabknnf@4ax.com...
NASA was quoted well over $400 million for a Delta IV-H. (So much for
cost savings versus Titan IV...)

That was before or after the DIV-H was taken off the commercial market?

all the atlas and deltas had their beginings as ICBMs.

"Brian Thorn" <bthorn64@suddenlink.net> wrote in message

http://www.spacex.com/falcon9_heavy.php also quotes a price for "TLI
missions" - why do I get the feeling that Elon Musk want's to be the 13th
person on the Moon... The F9H would get a 3-3.5 tonne payload onto the
surface.

He has to make a rocket that works first. Any rocket. Just get one
into orbit, and no song-and-dance about how *almost* working is cause
for celebration.

True; but the systems are in place.

Remember that Apollo 8 went to the Moon instead of being just another LEO test
after Von Braun said "there's very little difference between Lunar orbit and
Earth orbit".

Once the systems have been checked out, there's very little difference. Falcon 1s
first stage uses the same engine as the Falcon 9/F9H.

More 'song-and-dance'.

"Derek Lyons" <fairwater@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:480312c2.304033468@news.supernews.com...

More 'song-and-dance'.

I like the dance and the music is beautiful.

Alan Erskine wrote:
"Derek Lyons" <fairwater@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:480312c2.304033468@news.supernews.com...

More 'song-and-dance'.

I like the dance and the music is beautiful.

The Kool-Aid is also tasty, no?

"Jorge R. Frank" <jrfrank@ibm-pc.borg> wrote in message
news:v5adnatp2MLu_p7VnZ2dnUVZ_oLinZ2d@giganews.com...
Alan Erskine wrote:
"Derek Lyons" <fairwater@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:480312c2.304033468@news.supernews.com...

More 'song-and-dance'.

I like the dance and the music is beautiful.

The Kool-Aid is also tasty, no?

Ummm. Ok, you lost me on that one - I gather it's an American-specific
reference? A certain (former) politician here in Australia would ask you
to
"Please explain".

Remember that Apollo 8 went to the Moon instead of being just another LEO test
after Von Braun said "there's very little difference between Lunar orbit and
Earth orbit".

In that, Von Braun is quite wrong - the thermal environment is
different, the radiation environment is different, the communications
and operations enviroment, ditto... The difference may not have
mattered much for Von Braun's boosters, but it make a heck of a lot of
difference for the payload.

"Alan Erskine" <alan.erskine@bigpond.com> wrote in message
news:oUJMj.1677$ko5.222@news-server.bigpond.net.au...
"Jorge R. Frank" <jrfrank@ibm-pc.borg> wrote in message
news:v5adnatp2MLu_p7VnZ2dnUVZ_oLinZ2d@giganews.com...
Alan Erskine wrote:
"Derek Lyons" <fairwater@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:480312c2.304033468@news.supernews.com...

More 'song-and-dance'.
I like the dance and the music is beautiful.
The Kool-Aid is also tasty, no?
Ummm. Ok, you lost me on that one - I gather it's an American-specific
reference? A certain (former) politician here in Australia would ask you
to
"Please explain".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kool-Aid#.22Drinking_the_Kool-Aid.22

From above:

Currently the term is mostly associated with the 1978
cult suicide in Jonestown, Guyana. Jim Jones, the leader
of the Peoples Temple, convinced his followers to move
to Jonestown. Late in the year, he then ordered his flock
to commit suicide by drinking grape-flavored Flavor Aid
laced with potassium cyanide. In what is now commonly
called the "Jonestown Massacre", a large majority of the
913 people later found dead drank the brew. (The
discrepancy between the idiom and the actual occurrence
is likely due to Flavor Aid's relative obscurity,
compared to the easily recognizable Kool-Aid.) The precise
expression can be attested in usage at least as early as 1987[1].
The saying "Don't drink the Kool-Aid" now commonly refers
to the Jonestown tragedy, meaning "Don't trust any group
you find to be a little on the kooky side," or "Whatever
they tell you, don't believe it too strongly."[2] Fox News
commentator Bill O'Reilly is famous for using the term in
this manner. [3]

So, if someone says something like "The Kool-Aid is also tasty", they're
saying that you're buying into what one of these "kooky" groups is saying.
In other words, you're believing what they say without question or reason.

On Mon, 14 Apr 2008 08:19:17 GMT, fairwater@gmail.com (Derek Lyons)
wrote:


Remember that Apollo 8 went to the Moon instead of being just another LEO test
after Von Braun said "there's very little difference between Lunar orbit and
Earth orbit".

In that, Von Braun is quite wrong - the thermal environment is
different, the radiation environment is different, the communications
and operations enviroment, ditto... The difference may not have
mattered much for Von Braun's boosters, but it make a heck of a lot of
difference for the payload.

I don't think von Braun actually said that anyway. He said something
to the affect of "once you decide to put men on it [Saturn V], it
doesn't matter where it goes."