[Smokin' Joe]

In 1969, nearly 40 years ago, man first set foot on the moon. So what have we done lately?

Let's get this frigging show on the road allready so my great grandchildren will have a shot at doing the things I had dreamed of doing as a boy, and which we could have done by now.

Instead, the treasure and sweat of this country has been whizzed away trying to support a class of voluntarily nonproductive and unappeasable people who are only expanding.

[underground]

It will happen when venture capital realizes the net worth of the resources available in the asteroid belt alone. Trick is to build orbital colonies so you don't constant consume planetary fuel to escape gravity.

Anyway, its all covered in this book Mining the Sky

The resources described show how even such a high cost, high risk venture could return nearly unlimited profit. Earth's entire "domestic" GDP would be insignificant.

[Jeff Chandler]

a class of voluntarily nonproductive and unappeasable people who are only expanding.

We call those people "Democrats".

[Prospero]

Amen to all that, Amigo. It's plain sad that we're taking longer to gear up to return pretty much the way we should have in 1973, and the sorry Congress won't allow for funding enough to get back there until the late "teens"

In the unlikely event Obama is elected, you can kiss this good bye, because he is so ignorant of the NASA budget he thinks he can nationalize Day Care throughout the US on a budget exceeded by the Department of education by almost 4 times.

[airborne]

So what have we done lately?

We've got what's left of a shuttle fleet that can't launch in rain and can be destroyed by falling insulation.

Some progress.

[snoringbear]

“Let's get this frigging show on the road allready so my great grandchildren will have a shot at doing the things I had dreamed of doing as a boy, and which we could have done by now.”

Agree. When I watched Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon in 1969 I profoundly believed that I would see a permanent colony on the moon and a manned landing on Mars in my life-time. Alas, now it's almost 40 years later and I no longer believe I am going to see either happen in my lifetime.