[ceejayoz]

> I never hear anyone speak of the radiation outside of our atmosphere very often when it comes to 'moonshot' ideas like this, and how we would be incapable of preventing it or surviving it once we arrive, in our current biological form.

Eh, it's not that out of the realm of possible. It's about twice what ISS astronauts experience, without any mitigation efforts like shielding. https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/pia04258-comparison-of-marti...

> How much would it cost to get all the lead or H20 you would need to generate a barrier against it into orbit? Do we need to have a moon base extracting materials for us to even think about transferring orbits?

The astronauts will need water either way. Might as well have it be useful in transit.