[ClaudiusI]

What a stupid, hokey article. When going on about the cost, they seem to neglect the fact that NASA never would’ve done the mission because it was a worthless publicity stunt. If there’s something we want to know about the moon, we’ll ask the guys we’re sending there in 12 years to check it out for us. (Oooh, Pwned!)

[Buchal]

Nonetheless an American failure to maintain a lead in space technology threatens to do more harm to the Nation than perhaps any other government decision. And if Obama is elected, he has promised to let the Chinese and/or Indians control space, since we will not be permitted to “weaponize” it.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

NASA never would’ve done the mission because it was a worthless publicity stunt.

Right, because NASA never engages in worthless publicity stunts.

There's no question that the US pioneered the entire field of lunar exploration and research, but robotic missions like this make enormous sense - that's why NASA has a couple of scientific payloads flying up on that Indian orbiter.