Looking back: Was the shuttle a flop?

It would not save fuel. It would in fact be incredibly wasteful of fuel. Sure, you could go to the moon at 10 mph if you wanted, but you are having to expend fuel to fight gravity at every point until the moon's gravity is stronger than the earth's. The slower you go, the longer that is and the more fuel you need to expend while more or less sitting still.

The faster you go, the less fuel it takes, pretty much. It's not for nothing that all space agencies, for manned or unmanned flights, use high-G liftoff in order to get into orbit or on the way to the moon as fast as possible.

EP is still being EP. Trolling, or showing exceptional lack of understanding of physics, take your pick. Either way, though, don't take him seriously.