[thaumasiotes]

This will serve as a reply to you and wlievens:

The objection I questioned was "when you have to admit that astronauts won't be able to travel between those two space stations to speak of". You and wlievens are both pointing out that the scheme is unworkable regardless of the necessity of traveling between one station and the other. That's fine, but it doesn't respond to my question of "who cares that you can't travel between the stations?" It means I was correct to wonder how it could be relevant that travel between one station and the other is impossible. The objection I questioned makes no sense.

On a separate note, if Congress will fund one station, they can't object to a two-station system at the same cost. The number of stations is, again, not relevant to much.