"Sci fi fans taking on NASA engineers is too funny, but also a waste of time. We deal with real hardware here. Locked."
Bingo. The project is to build a very poorly designed spacecraft to perform a mission it's not well suited to for a ridiculously large sum of money. If we're going to build a spacecraft to journey to Mars, we shouldn't force it to conform to a 1960s fantasy hull design.
The shuttle proposal was from the late 60s, but the major design work was done in the 70s. Most importantly, the design work was done based on mission requirements, not based on a misguided desire to mimic fiction.
The requirements for a manned Moon or Mars mission are quite different from the requirements for an orbital mission or a TV show.
"Sci fi fans taking on NASA engineers is too funny, but also a waste of time. We deal with real hardware here. Locked."
Bingo. The project is to build a very poorly designed spacecraft to perform a mission it's not well suited to for a ridiculously large sum of money. If we're going to build a spacecraft to journey to Mars, we shouldn't force it to conform to a 1960s fantasy hull design.