International Declaration Signed Advocating Return to the Moon

Space.com ^ | December 5, 2003 | Leonard David

[Rebel_Ace]

All of the "Mars NOW!" types really crack me up. This is the analogy I use to put them into perspective:

At great risk to life and limb, people from Europe made it to North America. Now, after landing on the beach of a 'new' continent, was their very first thought, "Hey, let's try for Australia?"

No, of course not. To go anywhere in space, we need a staging area.

[MrsEmmaPeel]

People totally forget the role of the ground stations. They actually have all the power. If a station chooses not to relay its data to JPL, then JPL is in the dark until the next station handover. That's an extreme case of course, and the only cases where ground stations have been "down" is through extreme equipment failure, but those don't last very long.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

This is their fear. The Moon will offer up so much opportunity their projects will have to wait. They're between a rock and a hard place because they will not succeed until we return to stay on the Moon.

[Rebel_Ace]

"...Then why did we waste all this time and money on the stupid shuttle program?..."

Well, the answer you would get from a NASA type would follow these lines:

(1) Having a space station would make journeys to the Moon and Mars a lot easier, so we want a space station in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) to serve as a very local staging / construction platform.

(2) To make the Station economically feasible, we need to lower the cost of getting to LEO, and planners at the time thought that a re-usable "space truck" could lower costs.

(3) Designed by committee, and optimized for no single purpose, the shuttle turned into an over-weight, under powered disappointment, and was never able to meet it's targets for cost and re-usability.

Frankly, right now, what we need is a fleet of reliable, big dumb boosters.

[Pedantic_Lady]

Ah, NASA and their toys.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

What toys?

[Pedantic_Lady]

What toys?

International space station, Delta rockets, Atlantis Endeavour and Discovery....

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Did you have an answer to my questions in Post #20?

[Pedantic_Lady]

Did you have an answer to my questions in Post #20?

Hmmm....is Cincinatus' Wife late taking her HRT?

How would you like to see the money spent? Do you think government should be involved in large national endeavors like the Panama Canal, Apollo, interstate highway system, TVA, etc?

Actually, I'd like to see it spent balancing our budget.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

A balanced budget is your only priority? If we adhered to your advice, we'd be in pretty bad shape as a country.

With a strong economy and defense, our tax revenues will rise. Without them, it really doesn't matter if the budget is balanced, does it?

[jonatron]

Newsflash: Sons of Adam oppose takeover by International Community of "Humanity" on Earth.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

When you're watching your back, you don't bring everyone onboard.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Return to Moon May Be on Agenda***The plans reflect a consistent strain in Bush's rhetoric, going back to his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia in 2000, when he promised to use "good times for great goals." In fundraising speeches for his reelection campaign, Bush says he wants to pursue "great goals worthy of a great nation."***

[Jackknife]

Seems reasonable that going to the moon again would be the 'Stepping Stone' for going to Mars.
Of course, this is only based on theories that I have read about going to Mars.