Comment by nickff
2 days ago
SLS has been around the moon and back; that mission was equivalent to an unmanned Apollo VIII. Going around the moon is much easier than landing on it and coming back.
2 days ago
SLS has been around the moon and back; that mission was equivalent to an unmanned Apollo VIII. Going around the moon is much easier than landing on it and coming back.
Sure. And not-quite-getting-into-orbit is easier -- significantly easier -- than going around the moon.
What's your point, really, aside from nitpicking, when "orbiting the moon" is a perfectly reasonable interpretation of the statement "been to the moon and back"?
I think the difference between the US lunar exploration program and the Soviet one qualifies as more than mere nitpicking.