We all saw Apollo 18. Right? Right? I mean, I didn't, but... Anyway here's the plan for #20. Apparently they were pondering NTP "NERVA" for the second-stage.
Well, talk is cheap, and some would ascribe the cheapness of talk as a motive such that it was all fake (or maybe just #11?). Me, I trust the science.
America got as far as #17 when there was a budget for it. The cash ran out, as has been documented, by people who hated the Space Program, but nonetheless knew it was happening.
As to the merits of the NERVA second-stage: that far up, in the days before the LEO satellite ecosystem, maybe it could work. But I'd worry about the radiative effects on those satellites. Where would the stage separate, now - MEO? And would we get to see that NERVA chassis again back on Earth?
That's why we all tried to go for reusable boosters, and the Shuttle which was a reusable last-stage. It didn't work but, hey, we got some knowledge out of it. Now we have the Superheavy and the Starship. One hopes.
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