"Earth Times" needs to hire a high-school graduate to proofread their articles! LOL!
Too bad the US gave up moon exploration 30+ years ago, when it held a tremendous advantage over all other countries and had the structure in place to accomplish the task. Now the engineers and others have retired and the knowledge and skill needed has been lost or compromised.
I have a close relative who believes in the "Moon Hoax" - that we never landed a man on the Moon. He is convinced (a la Capricorn One) and simply chuckles quietly when the subject comes up. This latest plan by NASA, with a 10-15 year window, makes him smile more broadly. He asks, if we already landed men on the Moon so many times, why will it take a decade or more of research, robots, etc. At a minimum, can't we reuse (w/upgrade) the technology from 40 years ago?
It's about time. We should have had a permanent prescence established on the moon 15 or 20 years ago. We've wasted 30 years farting around in low earth orbit, and not capitalizing on the momentum we built up with the Apollo program. I think the space shuttle was an overpriced boondoggle that was obsolete as soon as it hit the launch pad. God bless the likes of Burt Rutan, and others who are showing the world that the GOVERNMENT is not the answer to getting things done successfully and efficiently.
Hmph.
BTTT
NASCAR on the moon?
Go for it.
Oh, good. Our robot landers can visit the manned Chinese base while they are there. ;)
I thought we tried this with the space station with less than spectacular results.
I would rather the funds be spent to complete SDI which is almost inevitable someday we will need.
Imagine the new technology that will be created from this.
New technology is something that gets overlooked when discussing
space, and it shouldn't be ignored.
I'm proud that we've taken on this new venture, and too get back
into advancing our civilization.
God Bless America indeed.
2015 to 2020? My my, aren't we in a hurry.
I thought there were some Lunar Orbiters up there already mapping the moon. How many times do they need to look at landing areas? The pics from the 60's are probably still usable.
Do we really need to wait 4 to 7 years to get this thing going?
I think the space station has proved that bringing in foreign partners increases costs dramatically.
Also, the Saturn V produces the loudest man made noise in history surpassed by only a nuclear detonation.
Hope they can rebuild the set in time.
About freakin' time.
The moon wasn't a lark. It was strategic. Still is. If you own the moon, you can change the equations on interplanetary travel.
As long as we are spending equal money on a space based missle defense program as well as a program to destroy enemy satellites in space in the event of a war.
Pathetic that NASA is making policy decisions based on polls.
I'll be 37 when we go to Mars.
I'd better start getting in shape! :D