For a few million more dollars von Braun would have made Skylab a true wet workshop instead of a dry one. It would have gone up in one launch and been larger inside than the multi-billion dollar ISS which took years to assemble. This does not even take into account the fact that we never should have abandoned the Moon and retreated to Low Earth Orbit (LEO). It was one of the worst wrong turns NASA has ever made.
NewSpace being without a doubt THE worst wrong turn.
What ended the first space age and any hope of a permanent human presence in space was the Apollo 1 fire. While the ISS has been characterized as hosting humans continuously in space this is actually a clever deception. Low Earth Orbit stopped being “space” in 1968 when Apollo 8 left Earth far behind. Low Earth Orbit compared to deep space is like a duck pond compared to the North Atlantic.
The Apollo 1 fire made the aerospace industry realize Human Space Flight Beyond Low Earth Orbit (HSF-BLEO) was going to be hard money. Industry would choose the easy money of cold war toys and the space age was doomed before humans ever left orbit. The prerequisite for humans traveling BLEO is a massive cosmic ray water shield massing in the hundreds of tons and more likely well over a thousand if any practical living space is to be provided.
In addition to dosing the problem of debilitation must be addressed and a tether generated artificial gravity (TGAG) system, which adds even more mass, is the only practical solution. The Double Hulled Workshop (DHW) with a diameter of over 50 feet, a “fat workshop”, is thus the critical piece of hardware for HSF-BLEO. Spinning the DHW with a TGAG counter-mass is the only practical option for humans on long duration deep space missions. To effect a true spaceship and go Beyond Earth and Lunar Orbit (HSF-BELO) will require nuclear pulse propulsion (bombs) to push the mass of the Cosmic Ray Water Shield (CRWS) and TGAG system.
These acronyms are integral to the Parker-Dyson-Spudis Continuum:
HSF- Human Space Flight.
LEO- Low Earth Orbit is NOT space.
BLEO- Beyond Low Earth Orbit, usually referring to cislunar space.
CRWS- Cosmic Ray Water Shield.
DHW- Double Hull Wet Workshop or “Fat Workshop” containing the CRWS.
TGAG- Tether Generated Artificial Gravity.
BELO- Beyond Earth and Lunar Orbit, usually referring to interplanetary missions.
SNPP- “Soft” Nuclear Pulse Propulsion, referring to Solem’s Medusa-spinnaker concept.
HNPP- “Hard” Nuclear Pulse Propulsion, referring to Dyson’s Orion plate concept.
ISRU- In Situ Resource Utilization, usually referring to lunar water and other materials.
Ice on the Moon 