Am I the only one who thinks this is pointless? How is going to the moon or Mars supposed to help anyone? Don't we have enough to worry about here on Earth? I think we should spend a little more time, effort, and money cleaning up the mess here before we go around screwing things up on the moon and Mars.

I tend to agree.

I think this is kind of not the best time for this. Although if it would help the economy, that would be one thing. But in general I feel like we have way too many complicated things going on in this country to bother with this right now.

Actually, it's probably the perfect time for this. We need something just like this to get folks thinking about the country in terms of "we" again and not just "me". When Armstrong walked on the moon, from what everyone told me, it did exactly that. Now, we're not facing some kind of "evil empire" like the Soviet Union this time around, but I think this is exactly what the doctor ordered for the public morale.

Now to see if this proposal actually goes anywhere.

I wonder if Haliburton builds spaceships? :D

I understand the concern for the economy and the timing of such issues.

However the US budget is over 2 trillion dollars, and NASA gets about 15.5 billion a year. That's less than 1% of the total budget.

A 1995 study by NASA said that to get back to the moon by 2001 would have cost 15 billion dollars over 5 years. You do the math. And that was at a time when construction of many components of the Space Station were being constructed...ie now NASA's budget is free of many of those initial costs of building ISS modules.

Further to say that NASA getting three consecutive years of a 5% budget increase is wasteful, it might help to think of it this way. The US is going to spend money on space exploration and science no matter what, this budget increase is more like a reallocation of other science money, and as I said earlier NASA is a great return for the money.

If you really want to bitch about the deficit look at the real reason we have a deficit, the fact that GW has cut taxes for the rich and many corporations, without simultaneously cutting spending. Blame the fact that the Deapartment of Defense has a budget over 400 billion dollars...They're supposed to spend over a billion dollars a DAY! Blame the fact that we've pumped 87 billion into Iraq, when none of our reasons for going to war have been realized.

Seriously look at the reasons for the situation we are in currently.

totally rhetorical
 

Don't those "Feed the Children" ads say that they can feed a child for less than $.20 a day? If so, then wouldn't 1 billion feed just about everybody?

Dee

Just food for thought.. (sorry for the bad pun)

Well, shit, there goes my job in 2010.

Just kidding. ;) I am very excited about this and I hope I get the chance to work on this project. Free rides to the moon will be accepted in lieu of payment for services. :D

Considering how many improvements in science and research technology and even in consumer products are around now because of space funding, I think it has "use".

-Rudey
--And it's not the job of the US to go and feed the hungry children of the world so let's be somewhat realistic here.

Agree. It's remarkable how many things in medicine and other more mundane areas of our daily lives came as a result of the Space Program.