[Dylan16807]

If we had funded that as much as we're currently funding AI I think it would have been a plausible goal. Keep in mind we cut more than half of NASA's budget after we first landed.

[suddenlybananas]

I disagree.

[Dylan16807]

The gap between spending multiple days somewhere and spending months somewhere isn't that big.

It was only six years to go from the first multi-person spacecraft and first spacewalk to the first space station.

[suddenlybananas]

>It was only six years to go from the first multi-person spacecraft and first spacewalk to the first space station.

Yeah that's my entire point, technological process doesn't have a constant rate of acceleration. Some advances are quickly made one after another and others lag and take a very long time.

[Dylan16807]

How long do you think it would have taken to get a permanent moon presence if we kept up Apollo level funding indefinitely with that as the main goal? And since I only said "plausible", let's go with 80th-90th percentile best case scenario.

Even if technological progress stopped we could have launched enough parts to assemble a colony structure.

[suddenlybananas]

I'm not sure we would have one today. Maybe a token presence but definitely not the moon colony dreams of the 60s.

[Dylan16807]

A token colony is still a colony. If you meant a specific size I wish you had been more clear upfront.