you wonder where we would be with 9 billion having been spent on that program?

the world is all about choices and for the last lots we as a nation have just made a lot of really bad ones. spend your money take your choice!

Robert G. Oler

http://www.ulalaunch.com/docs/publications/AffordableExplorationArchitecture2009.pdf

.ULA lays out a logical, affordable plan to put humans back on the moon by 2018. It’s based on existing boosters and includes commercial involvement establishing sustainable bases, infrastructure and architecture along the way.

Perhaps the rebuilding of NASA and the American space program needs to start with revisiting the Space Act that created NASA and revising it to fit the new world of the 21st Century. Perhaps once NASA’s justification for existence is in line with what the Congress and President see today as justification for its existence it will find more budget support.

Huh? Huuuh? NASA’s primary goal is to help expand human civilization?? You won’t find those words (or anything like them) in the Space Act (which define the purpose and goals of the agency) or even in the new National Space Policy, which defines national goals in space.

This goal may well be an important one, and you’re entitled to your opinion about that, but it is positively delusional to think that this goal is the primary one for NASA or any goal at all for the nation.

In fact, the only “expansion” referred to in the Space Act is “the expansion of human knowledge of the Earth and of phenomena in the atmosphere and space”.

Look, if it’s part of our natural instinct to expand and colonize new regions (and no, I don’t really think it is, nor do modern historians and anthropologists), then I can point you to some pretty unpleasant parts of our world that don’t have any human footprints on them.

It’s clueless comments like this that probably encourage Pelosi to thumb her nose at human space flight advocates.

Mind boggling.

I assume by your ‘expand human civilization beyond this extremely fragile ball’ statement, you are pointing to the need for humanity to survive.

One way to ensure humanities survival is to ensure we take good care of this planet; we learn from our Earth Science endeavors what the heck humans are doing to the planet, and we elect brave and bold politicians (does such a creature exist? – but I digress) to implement policy that ensures a healthy planet that includes human activities.

Obama will surprise us I suspect; and his statement , in my above post, looks like we’re going to end Bush II exploration initiative in much the same way Bush I exploration initiative was ended, and we once again have ‘father like son’ phenomena.

What replaces Bush II remains to be seen…but it does look squishy.

Heading off world so we can ensure the survival of humanity will not resonate with the American public.

But if we want to enhance the survival of our species by expanding our civilization beyond the Earth while also making some money while we’re there, then manned space travel is essential!

Once NASA finally articulates to the public that its primary goal is to help expand human civilization beyond this extremely fragile ball that we live on then they will be showered with money and support from the public and the politicians.

Why? Because in the 2.5 million years of the genus Homo, that’s all we’ve ever done. Its part of our natural instinct to expand and colonize new regions– even in hostile and periodically frigid areas like Europe and North America!