You'll finally be a man!

conversely, at least he did make the gesture, and at least there now exists a codified process for the agency to shoot for. NASA has been divided for too long–between the ISS, robotic missions, shuttle upkeep and flights, they've been getting spread too thin. Now there's a defined goal and a defined path to that goal.

I read something yesterday where a spacer was talking about how NASA shouldn't "develop technologies to inhabit the moon", but should rather "develop technologies for manned Mars missions…" (which would necessarily involve habitation to some extent) "and use/test/adapt those technologies for any potential moon missions/bases". which, really, is pretty much what i said in my post (moon as proving ground), only more rigorously defined (moon as proving ground for mars tech).

hopefully, between the new president (please, god), NASA's recently discovered ability for frugality, efficiency, and expediency (the shoestring budgeted robotic missions), and the elimination of old/costly programs (ISS/Shuttle), NASA will be able to pull it all off. obviously, i'm rooting for them.

certainly, the ongoing plan to further explore mars was in place, but the proposed space policy puts definite steps in place for accomplishing that mission. the difference being that there's a defined plan, supposedly backed by federal funding. also, i can't say that i've heard a whole lot about first establishing a moon base (heard it proposed by the general scientific community, no doubt, but not necessarily as a waypoint in NASA's eventual mars goals).

and, as i said, i understand and can see your points that the money might certainly be better spent on initiatives at home, rather than in space. as i also said, i think that the space program provides an important psychological (as well as technological) influence on our world. the key for the government is in balancing the money spent well on meaningful projects at home, versus the money spent on space projects. i think that our government, with the right leadership, can adequately fund both.

cheers.

the puffin

I'm an absolute space discovery and science-junkie, but I'm not convinced that space exploration, and its truer intentions, will prove more beneficial to the average citizen than many other purposes to which those taxpayer-provided multi-billion dollar funds could be applied.

Happy Birthday, Paul! 30 actually ain't so bad. Really!

Sara