Posted on 09/15/2005 11:46:54 AM PDT by Airborne1986
WASHINGTON - NASA briefed senior White House officials Wednesday on its plan to spend $100 billion and the next 12 years building the spacecraft and rockets it needs to put humans back on the Moon by 2018.
The U.S. space agency now expects to roll out its lunar exploration plan to key Congressional committees on Friday and to the broader public through a news conference on Monday, Washington sources tell SPACE.com.
U.S. President George W. Bush called in January 2004 for the United States to return to the Moon by 2020 as the first major step in a broader space exploration vision aimed at extending the human presence throughout the solar system.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
"Unless we are spending $100 billion to ship back 1,000s of container ships with Helium-3, this entire mission is a waste of time."
I bet a lot of europeans thought that way about going to North America too, instead saying 'bring gold'.
Very short sighted.
Please read my post above, and for those of you who see "Shades of Heinlein" your right. If he could think that up 50 years ago I am dammed well sure the Chinese can see it now.
Oop's, didn't think it would advance that afst see post # 99.
There is a difference between supporting space exploration for military value and " searching for evidence of life" on Mars or somewhere else.
Nobody has suggested that a trip to the moon would be anything but an exploration mission. So with that, I don`t support it.
In my earlier post, I suggested that private business should have invested in "space exploration", and believing if it had, we would be much more advanced in that area as a world, not necessarily as a nation. What business is it for our government to be looking for lifeforms out in the great beyond?
Also, the tax money that was spent on space exploration so far could have been better used in other areas ( which included the military, if it meant a missle defence system, so be it ).
But for military purposes, I would support the government in such an avenue 100%. I believe NASA should be converted to take a military role, and not be some science research juggernaut for the "there must be life out there somewhere" crowd.. It is stupid and a waste of money.
I'm sorry I haven't heard much of anybody saying going back to the moon would be for an "exploratory" mission other than to find if there was frozen ice in craters on the poles, which really isn't just for exploration when you consider the ice can be used for fuel, oxygen, power and food production for a self sufficient base of a potential permanent habitation.
Fine, Bush can have his Mission to the Moon if he scraps the "No Child Left Behind" boondoggle, or slashes the Energy Department's budget by 50%. Enough of getting the Chinese to banroll our adventures. Time to trim the fat. And at least 30% of Washington's outlays are "fat".
"I'm sorry I haven't heard much of anybody saying going back to the moon would be for an "exploratory" mission other than to find if there was frozen ice in craters on the poles, which really isn't just for exploration when you consider the ice can be used for fuel, oxygen, power and food production for a self sufficient base of a potential permanent habitation."
It doesn`t take a manned mission to do that.
We're being followed by a moon shadow.
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