[Travis McGee]

Settlers by the thousand walked right behind L&C on their own dime. Ditto ships and Columbus.

Where is the comparison to trillion dollar space travel?

Where's that private enterprise moonbase harvesting unobtainium, 35 years after Apollo?

If the robot Mars rovers find unobtainium on Mars in commercial quantities, let private corporations pony up to go get it. That's the model of the Dutch East India and Hudson Bay companies etc.

But to shovel trillions at a human photo-op with no payoff is absurd. There is zero comparison to Columbus or L&C.

Or have I missed that thriving moon industry that followed Apollo?

Where is that moonbase, 35 years on?

[RightWhale]

the model of the Dutch East India and Hudson Bay companies etc.

That's the way to do it. Get a certificate from the king and go for it.

[Doc On The Bay]

Once Again--,"Sigh!!--"

Human History Doesn't "Happen" in "Sound Bytes" or Seconds.

If we are Smart Enough & remain Sane Enough to Colonize the Moon & Mars; the Process will take several Decades.

If we are Smart Enough & Brave Enough to Colonize the Moon & Mars--& Beyond,--we MAY Survive as a Species.

To Involute--to turn "Inward", & concentrate on re-distributing our Natural Wealth to an ever-expanding population--is "Slow Suicide."

We are Built to "Go Out." To Deny this Fact is to ignore tens of thousands of years of Human History.

IF WE SURVIVE,--we WILL Colonize the Moon & Mars; it is in our Basic Genetic Nature!

So WHY NOT "Do It Now,"--when we CAN, & before our "Cultural Pressure" forces us to "Go Out" with FAR MORE LIMITED RESOURCES!!

Doc

[Doc On The Bay]

WELL---You have to "Prime the Pump!"

Sometimes it takes a Couple of Gallons, Sometimes it takes a Lake!!

To FAIL is--eventually--"Species Suicide!!"

Doc

[Bobsat]

Don't delude yourselves into thinking that the main objectives of the Moon/Mars proposal are simply to go to the moon and then Mars or that they have much at all to do with space travel.

If you use hindsight in detailing the objectives of Kennedy's moon proposal letting the results define the objectives, you'll see that the actual landings were incidental.

For example, before the first landing, my cotton flight suits were replaced with ones of fire resitant Nomex nylon developed for the space program. I have a pistol with grips made from carbon fiber, a direct descendent of the development by the Brunswick Corporation to make lightweight, high presssure oxygen tanks for the space program.

To save a few million words, the bottom line is that the effort isn't justifiable under any articulable manifest goals, but the treasure is in the spinoffs from the doing.

Any techno-weenie who lived through and paid attention during the 20 years after the first moon landing knows about a lot of technological innovations directly attributable to the space program before 1970. The space program was a cheap way to prime a huge economic pump.

I personally think the shuttle and other NASA exploits since the Apollo program have been wasteful boondoggles, but I think this new proposal has a chance to repeat the earthbound benefits of the Apollo program.