I mean… yes and no. The Apollo program started in 1961, had the first manned flight in 1968, and landed on the moon in 1969. Gemini started in 1961 and had two people in ‘65. Don’t get me wrong, I’m perpetually impressed by the things SpaceX is doing, but don’t let the fact that the rest of the industry has slowed down significantly convince you that SpaceX is moving faster than anyone ever has before.
For what it's worth, the Apollo program only had one bespoke launch vehicle, the Saturn V. Mercury used the Redstone (for sub-orbital flights) and Atlas, and Gemini the Titan, all of which were developed as ballistic missile platforms.
>39. (alternate formulation) The three keys to keeping a new human space program affordable and on schedule:
> 1) No new launch vehicles.
> 2) No new launch vehicles.
> 3) Whatever you do, don't develop any new launch vehicles.
Given that SpaceX wanted to make a more affordable launch vehicle, they obviously needed to design one. But it certainly didn't make their human space flight programme go faster compared to past endeavours.
So? Falcon wasn't a human spaceflight program during that time, and it was also over-schedule and over-budget anyway.
The advice isn't "no new launch vehicles should ever be invented ever", it's "if you want your human spaceflight program to be on time and on budget, don't include a new launch vehicle in the plan"
> The advice isn't "no new launch vehicles should ever be invented ever", it's "if you want your human spaceflight program to be on time and on budget, don't include a new launch vehicle in the plan"
And that advice is being questioned. Starship aims at cost reduction which can't reasonably be achieved by incremental improvements to the status quo.
The "on time" part with Starship is what was formally promised to NASA with the Moon landing vehicle. This may - probably will - slip, but I currently doubt it will slip a lot. Other times regarding Starship are in the realm of estimates or wishful statements. The "on budget" part is something which I doubt even SpaceX accountants may answer - just as software engineers have troubles answering the time - and therefore budget - of a system to be delivered.
The law shows its age. On the other hand, it never claimed to be an absolute truth.