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happyscrappy t1_izvqxfo wrote

Reply to comment by DBDude in Splashdown! NASA's Artemis 1 Orion capsule lands in Pacific to end epic moon mission by glawgii

Falcon Heavy is not powerful enough for this mission.

It could do an unmanned-style mission, especially with a smaller payload. But with the power it has it would just take too long to get to the moon and back for humans to put up with. So it can't do this mission.

Which is why it won't be used for Dear Moon. And for the landing it will (or is slated to, Starship might take over) take parts up to the Lunar Gateway. Because it is not an issue if those parts take a long time to get there.

Right now SLS is the only rocket large enough for this mission. Starship will likely change that once it's ready.

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DBDude t1_izwz4am wrote

>Falcon Heavy is not powerful enough for this mission.

I thought he was talking about going around the moon in general. Going around the moon with this payload does require more power.

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