'Moon Stuck'

I remember watching when Armstrong first stepped onto the moon's surface July 20, 1969. I hope to see someone set foot on Mars before I die. I wish I could go. What an adventure!

Until we develop "warp drive" Mars will be but a distant red dot in the sky and is best explored by the unmanned rovers which have proven themselves so admirably (way to go NASA !) I think that instead of building the silly International Space Station, the money would have been better spent on a moon base which could be made much more permanent, a better platform for science (including huge telescopes)and be somewhat more protected from the Micrometeorites and space Junk which will eventually prove its demise

People who believe that Nation X's presence on the moon would be "holding a big rock over our heads" -- or is in any meaningful way like the possession of "high ground" in traditional warfare -- probably ought to learn more about (1) the physics and economics of space and (2) what existing, earth-based military technologies can do.

You may or may not think that more abstract concerns of national prestige, leadership, etc. are important. But the "strategic panic" arguments are just silly -- and the past 50 years of actual military spending in space (as distinct from talk and zoomy Powerpoint visions) strongly suggest that the DoD knows it, even if the armchair generals don't.

In Re; to Stu...warp drive is and will be the work of fantasy for years to come but Mars is achievable. The Moon wasn't achievable either util we went.
The ISS is nearly built so your notion of not building it is "silly" unto itself. If you think that the Moon will be a safe haven from meteorites you aren't paying much attention in science class. Since there is some mass and no atmosphere the Moon attracts meteors but has no atomosphere to destroy them before impact vs the Earth that does. The ISS can be steered avoiding the greater majority of objects in space thereby extending the life of the station. Impacts from space stuff is always imperiling any manmade object, no matter where it is.

Remember how good it feels to save a buck at Walmart? All the crap we buy from China will finance their moon base. And their industry, weapons and purchasing power. Bush's weak dollar is letting them buy all of our (temporarily) ailing companies.

The moon will be militarized. Remember when near-earth orbit was supposed to be weapon free?

Send bush/cheney to space with no food and water? How cruel. I'd give them a bowl of soup and a carbonated drink.

It makes much more sense to have a base on the moon as a jump point for further exploration than the earth. Moving resources from the moon to a space dock would be much easier than from the earth to same and the moon should be able to provide minerals needed for construction.

There is a Question that must be answered. Is Nasa capable of going to the moon, is it all a lie? There seems to be growing evidence that it was all a big lie.

The comments of Poster "vizorsdn" has to be the most intelligent comments I have read in on these boards!! That really says alot about the mindset of the citizens of the U.S.

I was thinking it would be a great venture for mankind if we suddenly set our sights on planet Mars and a joint team were to be sent there by 2012. We have the manufacturing capability and the technology so why don’t were do it now instead of 2020 and beyond. By 2012 or even 2020 many more of us will not be alive to realize that venture, so why not start now? For this project we could easily arrange for joint national confederations … former high reliability

Personally, I want NASA to keep doing the research that gave us Tang, the MEMORY FOAM MATTRESS, and synthetic food. That research produced other valuable researched knowledge-research into bacterial production in zero gravity that has priceless medical research value.
Before we go back into space, I would like to see astronauts stringently held to tighter protocols than other service members. I DEMAND that the safety of our astronauts be put before any decision to launch, no matter what the director thinks. And I DEFINITELY want a different contractor to design a better spacecraft than the seriously ancient and flawed space shuttle.

We spend 1% of the national budget for NASA and NASA scientists, and NASA is making decisions based upon what young people think sounds cool. Twenty year olds think an asteroid sounds more cool than the moon, so NASA spends money to meet at Stanford to plan an asteroid spin. YIKES, can we fire everyone at NASA?

Don't you get it?? It was such a political play!! Kennedy had the vision to go to the moon but Nixon was president. But we all associate going to the moon with Kennedy (and rightly so!). So the monkey in charge (no offense to the monkey population) decided to create his own "legacy" by announcing these plans but providing absolutely, 100% no real means or desire to accomplish the goal. He will leave the real hard work to the next person in charge. So, when it happens we can all look back and thank Dubya for his so called great vision!!

George Bush - PROOF that intelligent design is not real!!!!

RE: vizorsdn, obviously you cant read. I said: WOULD have been better spent.
I agree with you that we should eventually go to mars, but I can't imagine all the things that might go wrong with 6 people living in a small titanium tube for 6 months while hurtling themselves through the void with current technology. We need to become comfortable going to the moon and back with regularity before we embark on on such a frivolous venture that can be achieved much cheaper with robots. While the moon has no atmosphere to protect it from meteorites, bases could be built inside the many lava tubes that pock its surface. As for "steering" the ISS, you obviously haven't seen a piece of hardware retrieved from low earth orbit - after a few years it looks like swiss cheese...

Actually I wanted a convoy of space vehicles some manned and some with supplies and planned medical and maintenance logistics.

Ahh Man! I knew it was too good to be true! Shucks! We can't really blame NASA. There just isn't much public support. Because the first space race was a competition with Russia, everyone supported the space program. Now no one does. Darn! Well goodbye to all my dreams of a moon base and eventually a trip to mars.

David D. Gann have faith I want to be on planet Mars by the year 2012 and their is no reason why we are not on that planet by that year.

Re Stu; actually I read quite well but thanks for your concern. Maybe you should read more pubs related to the development of materials and technology however. Nobody has ever argued that "current" technology will take us to Mars. I don't recall ever reading that anywhere, posting it, nor has any legitimate governmental (or commercial) body ever stated it. It has yet to be developed, but it is underway. By the way, why would be going to the Moon be any more of a "frivolous" venture (your words), than going to Mars? Mars would be as large, if not a larger triumph for man that the Moon landing. As far as your assumption that I "obviously" have never seen any hardware returned from long duration exposure to space...it is just an assumption on your part. In fact different materials were found to behave, deteriorate (Solar exposure, etc) and oxidize at different rates. The damage to some materials was extensive versus others exposed to the same time periods and conditions. Impacts behaved in varied manners depending on the material and/or it's thicknesses . (Ex. LDEF) So much for your theory....

I can't disagree with NASA's reasoning behind wanting to aim for landing on an asteroid as the next space trip instead of going to the moon, but I have to wonder if this line of thinking isn't "being penny-wise and pound-foolish." More specifically, despite our repeated landings on the moon, we haven't yet begun to explore or understand it. Subsequent moon flights, along with establishment of a moon base (preferably scientific in nature), would allow for that. But such a wish list requires reliable space transportation for exploration, and, much more importantly, adequate funding for NASA and its programs. (Are you listening out there, Congress?)

well i think that this country in general doesnt provide the support that these kinds of things need just look at some of the comments NASA and Bush are morons i mean come on this is why nothing ever seems to get done and everyone complains about that so make up your minds do you not want to succeed or do you want things to be accomplished these questions need to be answered and we need to get things straitened out so we can establish a base on the moon or make a trip to an asteroid and eventually to mars.

That article is rubbish.
Virtually everyone wants to see a return to the moon and and to mars.

What a load of disinformation.