[nuke rocketeer]

I still think that if we are going back to the future, we should have gone back to this...

instead of Apollo redux.

[af_vet_rr]

Ideally we'd be using some kind of true shuttle, similar to what you are talking - which, had not Vietnam sucked up so much money, the Air Force would have been flying in the 1970s, as they were building the infrastructure and the pool of qualified pilots to do so. This would be something geared towards small cargo runs and moving people back and forth.

We'd also be using the Saturn program (just think of where it would be with the advances in materials, propellants, computer, and propulsion today if we hadn't dropped it in favor of the Shuttle).

As to why we go to space, once upon a time we were a nation of pioneers and explorers. These days we appear to have become a nation of settlers.