No, the plane was for trips up to ISS. It docks there and flies back and forth.

Orion was a capsule with rockets attached, it had to go all the way to the moon so it had to be smaller and lighter. And it needed more propulsion and fuel.

April 11, 2026 - 04:22 UTC

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The plane was really more for building the ISS. It was a truck. Ferrying people just needs simple capsules, as the Soyuz shows.

About the only thing we don’t have without the shuttle is something to bring cargo back down. We can launch uncrewed and later send people to build.
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