Can the mass be sent?

Bonestell's painting, located on the inside sleeves of, Conquest of the Moon (1953), shows the Willy Ley concept of building the moonship containing the parts of a base in Earth orbit. The power needed to transport the heavy pieces would only be a fraction of that of launching them from Earth. This vision presupposes an orbital station to have already been constructed to facilitate this operation. The station is the wheel shaped structure in the distance and the three moonships are being built in the forground.