The question no one is really answering is how to get the astronauts into space. Use Russian or French hardware? A little absurd given that this is a national security exercise.
Man rate an expendable? Most likely. But very expensive. By the time an existing expendable is man-rated, it may cost a sizable fraction of the shuttle launch.
I see the need to go, but our shortsightedness means we have to walk.
We've got the Saturn V rockets and they work just fine getting things into space, including men on the moon. If they were good enough then they are still good now.
I'm so glad President Bush is in the White House setting our country back on course for exploration and technology. I think his initiative has put the spotlight on a real need. I guess Congress can sit on their royal butt and let us buy hardware from Russia and launch using Arianne but you'd think it would have dawned on them by now, that the U.S. needs to build its own capability. It's times like these Americans live for. As soon as the Presidential Commision reports back to Bush, I expect there will be a lot of ideas on the table.
A Proton booster rocket is assembled at the Khrunichev State Research and Production Center in Moscow, in this Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2003 file photo. Khrunichev and other Russian space companies are counting on winning a share of the future U.S. manned missions to the moon and Mars announced by President George W. Bush. (AP Photo/Misha Japaridze)
Former Vice President Al Gore delivers a speech on Global Warming and the Environment at the Beacon Theater in New York, January 15, 2004. Gore scoffed at President George W. Bush's plan to send astronauts to the moon and Mars and said Bush was a 'moral coward' for ignoring global environmental threats. Speaking at the event sponsored by political advocacy groups MoveOn.org and Environment2004, Gore said Bush's record on the environment routinely puts the wishes of the coal, oil, utility and mining industries ahead of public interests. (Shannon Stapleton/Reuters)