I dont quite understand the automatic disdain for it myself.
Sure, let’s not blow the taxpayer’s dollars on it, but let’s get some real private sector incentive to get first to the Moon at least, which I think is a better goal because too much can go wrong getting to Mars.
It would be a cinch getting remote-controlled equipment to the moon to build a base from the comfort of Earth, and just get people there in less than a week with a small craft.
Surprised it hasn’t been done already.
Building a Moon base first has the advantage of real life testing of the tech, engineering and building methods, plus its easier to fix a screw up on the moon from Earth.
It has not been done for several reasons - we had the tech, but not the political will to use it; because, according to an undocumented conversion with Neil Armstrong, we were warned to stay away. Pick one.
Agree. It's not just man undertaking manned missions to Mars that compels some to suddenly make juvenile comments. It doesn't matter to some if it's manned or unmanned exploratory spacecraft that go where no man can. In fact even discussing news or discoveries stemming from earth based observatories etc, will set them off...lol
I personally think a percentage of these anti-science types are simply afraid of the unknown and what might be discovered. ☺