[AntiKev]

Finally, a President committed to returning to the Moon, going to Mars and beyond. Although I still say it should be up to the private sector to go back to the moon.

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[theDentist]

I wonder if he'll include Howard Dean in the announcement? After all, it's always good to have someone on the dais who seems to have been there before!

[hchutch]

The good news is we're getting ambitious.

The bad news is we're scrapping the shuttles - and I'd prefer to have our own form of getting to the space station as opposed to relying on the Europeans or Russians.

Time to bring back the X-30, X-33, and the Delta Clipper?

[traumer]

Will cost $$ we don't have....
Why not to send there the illegals ??

[NordP]

Your post was SO RIGHT on target, I just HAD to post it again!!!

"Finally, a President committed to returning to the Moon, going to Mars and beyond. Although I still say it should be up to the private sector to go back to the moon."

NordP

[RightWhale]

The first Mars mission will be a fly-by. Perhaps they will enter Mars orbit, perhaps not. Either way it is a vastly simpler and cheaper mission than a Mars landing. It is also appropriate: there is no urgency to land on Mars. We are a long way from a sustainable base on Mars, and we should not conduct another one-off mission to either the moon or Mars.

[boris]

"Finally, a President committed to returning to the Moon, going to Mars and beyond. Although I still say it should be up to the private sector to go back to the moon."

His daddy announced with great bravado the "Space Exploration Initiative". We started attempting to resurrect NERVA (nuclear rocket engine). Right on the line; a few of the original experts were still alive and some of the technical data still in existence. I was on that team.

Guess what? The instant Clinton was elected, the second thing he did (right after gays in the military) was to cancel SEI.

Now those remaining experts are dead and the technical data is in the great shredder in the sky.

--Boris