[tonyarkles]

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.

[themadturk]

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.

[tonyarkles]

And that's kind of the point of the rule :).

>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.

[avmich]

Not counting Saturn-I AND Saturn-IB?