Space policy ping.
Go get 'em Griffin!
Scratch that, we WOULD already have been to Mars.
There's a new batch of astronauts just completed training. Maybe the program will have some continuity and they will get to go to the moon some day.
China and Russia want to have a joint mission to the moon.
The Space Shuttle has been an interesting waste of dollars and time. IMO, the biggest part of the manned space program costs are from Boeing, Lockheed-Martin and other over-priced major NASA suppliers.
Why don't they give Dick Ruttan and his company a shot at designing the replacement space vehicle? NASA needs new blood and innovative thinking, NOT the means of throwing more money at the same old problems.
Kill the shuttle, lick our wounds, give Rutan lots of money, let him take over the short game, and start worrying about the big rockets needed for the long game...
Let's cut the bullshit. The manned space program was sacrificed in large part so the money could be wasted on greatly expanded welfare benefits, coddling of illegal immigrants, and promoting the gay agenda in public schools.
FWIW, there was a larger gap between the last Apollo flight (1975) and the first Shuttle flight (1981) than is currently planned with the Shuttle-to-CEV transition. Plus, the CEV is conceptually a much easier design than the Shuttle. Of course, NASA paperwork requirements are insane these days, so who knows what will really happen.
It's so sad that the worthless space shuttle has driven our space program into the ground.
I know it's near-heresy in some circles to say this, but just what is it we're going to Mars for again?? Have the rovers turned up anything of intrinsic commercial value that warrants spending all of our resources on going there??
I can think of many different ways to spend the money that it's going to cost for a Mars mission, that might some day actually generate a profit...
Mr President, we can not allow a spaceflight gap!