NASA plans to launch first two Gateway elements on same rocket

[Huxter]

https://spaceflightnow.com/2020/05/...ch-first-two-gateway-elements-on-same-rocket/
Another great decision by NASA! Gateway is getting safer all the time! I'm starting to really like Jim Bridenstine.



Aiming to reduce risk and costs, NASA has decided to launch the first two modules of the Gateway station in lunar orbit on the same heavy-lift rocket in 2023, rather than fly them on separate rockets and dock them together in deep space, according to the the agency’s chief human spaceflight manager.

NASA has not selected a rocket to carry the two modules into space, but the massive payload could fit on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket with a lengthened payload fairing currently in development to accommodate large U.S. military satellites, according to Doug Loverro, NASA’s associate administrator for human exploration and operations.

 

[BBowmaster]

If you can only afford one basket, putting all your eggs in it makes more sense.

 

[John Done]

NASA wants to decisively revise the program for the construction of a lunar orbital station. The most significant change is the new launch plan for Starter Elements. Instead of launching the first two modules - Power and Propulsion Element (PPE) and Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO) - separately and docking them in the lunar orbit, now they intend to integrate them into a single complex on the ground and launch them on a single rocket.