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Never said that the state of the art wasn't improved by all the big science money that was thrown at it. When I first started working on CADCAM in 1981 it took the equivalent of a mid-frame computer to run and we now do it with a pc. That said, do we need to pay all over again to get into earth orbit? I hope not. Rutan will be able to get into orbit in 2-3 years I bet. Can NASA replace the aging shuttle in that timeframe? No. Can we get to L4, L5 or to the moon with pretty much the same technology as will get Rutan into orbit? Yes. Can't STAY there for very long and that's what does in a manned Mars mission now (given what lack of gravity does to human health). And yep, space science gets done unmanned and with comparatively little funding doesn't it?