[singsong]

Whatever happened to the spirit of the 60s?

The Spirit is on Mars, doing just fine, thank you. You can enjoy the pictures on the other thread. It's a beautiful piece of engineering - you're right that we need it. Actually we have it and just need more of it - for now. Let's not put the cart before the horse, shall we?

[RightWhale]

We've been here before. 30 years ago we were ready. It's never been robots versus people, it's been lack of proof of water on Mars. The proof is in, so there is no reason to sit back and twiddle our joysticks any longer. The moon base should have been in operation for years by now, and without spending any more money than what was wasted on the Space Shuttle and ISS.