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usrdef t1_ix5oyvo wrote

It's cool that everything is working, but someone who does space stuff posted a youtube video explaining the difference between Apollo and Orion, including the reason why Apollo could take a direct route, and Orion orbits the lagrange points.

Once you get into the details of it, Orion is cool, but sort of underwhelming considering what Apollo could do at the time it was developed with the technology it had.

Plus, if I were the crew going on 3; I'd be slightly concerned by the fact that with Orion, if anything happens; they've got a week before they could get off the Moon and get going back home.

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sassynapoleon t1_ix6u2qi wrote

It's not Orion vs Apollo, it's SLS block 1 vs Saturn.

See SLS variants here.

The additional delta V necessary for a more direct trajectory was supplied by the S-IVB 3rd stage on a Saturn V, and a similar "exploration upper stage" is planned for the SLS 1B crew variant so that it can have a similar trajectory.

This wasn't a requirement for Artemis 1 since it was unmanned, and the spacecraft has solar panels allowing for a a longer path that lets NASA log more data before sending it back up with crew on board.

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