[LandofLincoln]

Sorry, here is the link.

http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/powell200312030858.asp

[Hodar]

This would be absolutely fantastic. The technology advances we gained from Mercury, Gemini and Apollo far surpassed the costs of the programs. NASA even has a magazine entitled Spinoff that not only lists the technology that has been turned over to commercial industries, it mentions several alternative uses for the various technologies.

Advancements in MRI, semiconductors, software, satellites, computers, remote sensing, weather prediction, cancer treatment would never have come about as they have, if it had not been for NASA.

[MyOptic]

Like Galager replied when talking about the Preparation H commercials holding his hands out in front of him, if this is the problem, this isn’t the answer. I have worked in the bowels of the NASA beast for 7 years, and in this time I have seem waste, sloth and mindless bureaucratic nonsense that made my stint in the navy seem like a lesson in efficiency. What should take weeks takes literally years of power struggles, layers upon layers of management decisions, petty bickering and ineptitude being rewarded with promotions. I worked in a shop where cutting edge technology would allow us to perform a task in days, but due to management decisions, they “preferred” that we performed these jobs manually, and the project would take 1 to 2 years. The cost of the equipment would have been paid for with the price of 6 months of our labor. NASA was once a great entity, but after Apollo, it has degenerated into just another Government Hog at the public trough. I would love to see more manned explorations, just not run by NASA.

[somemoreequalthanothers]

And, there are those among us who think the moon may harbor further interest. www.lunaranomalies.com