The lander funding and dev definitely should’ve started sooner.
I still kind of wish they separated out the giant standalone landers (Starship and Blue Moon) into a different task order type vs a dinky little Apollo sized lander that could either fly as a a comanifested payload on SLS Block 2 or on its own single launch. A quick little option seems like it would be nicer to get up and running for a short surface trip or visiting a surface hab without as much fuss.
We have the ride doing laps around the moon, and neither lander option even getting into space…
The lander funding and dev definitely should’ve started sooner.
I still kind of wish they separated out the giant standalone landers (Starship and Blue Moon) into a different task order type vs a dinky little Apollo sized lander that could either fly as a a comanifested payload on SLS Block 2 or on its own single launch. A quick little option seems like it would be nicer to get up and running for a short surface trip or visiting a surface hab without as much fuss.