This isn’t a normal useful orbit in terms of supporting astronauts on the moon or being available for recovery etc. and was definitely not used to support earli

This isn’t a normal useful orbit in terms of supporting astronauts on the moon or being available for recovery etc. and was definitely not used to support earlier moon landings. I think it only has a lunar revisit once every 7 days. Imagine your abort / recovery to orbit option is only available for this one tiny window. SLS probably can’t get Orion to Lunar orbit unfortunately so they have created this insanely costly / complex / lower utility approach.