To be honest, I was expecting the moon to be a no go zone until a side had researched it.
This was what my assumption was too, to be honest. Not that starting out with lunar access is a horrible disaster, but it was a surprise.
The point is that he describes something as relatively small when it's relatively big, and in fact big enough to launch entire space stations. Your example fails because you have something that is small for a nuclear explosion, where here we have something that is huge for a rocket.
You say its big relative to the Saturn V? I'm not comparing it to the Saturn V. In fact, from the examples in the game, you know its big enough to send 3 people into space. Thus, a 2-stage rocket big enough to send 3 people up is "small" to me.
Ideally, you'd tell people what the words you use mean if you're using non-standard definitions. Had I known the rockets were big enough to launch entire spacestations from the beginning, different actions would have been taken.
...Is a rocket that can put 3 people on the Moon big enough to put up an entire space station?
Actually? Yes. Not all in one go, but most space stations are modular anyway. If it can lift a capsule capable of making a moon landing and then coming back to space, it can lift a space station module up. It'd probably take a separate trip per module and then either some work on automatic docking technology or sending some people up there to put everything together, but it'd be totally possible.
And that's assuming really basic hard constructed modules, and not anything like an
inflated module to really save on space and weight when you're lifting it up or other advanced tricks. It wouldn't be a super good space station, but it'd still be a space station.
Or a Moonbase, if people would prefer. A Moonbase would probably be easier, honestly, if we can find a good lava tube type thing to set up in. Just need to make one way landings of enough stuff to cover any openings, add an airlock, and then pressurize the inside...