[oh8eleven]

I blame Congress for no direction or fortitude to boldly press forward after the moon landings.
Me too, but they did try at least once. In the early 70s they canceled the last two or three Apollo moon landings to save money. Then someone sold them a bill of goods called the Space Shuttle and we the people have been "reaping the benefits" ever since.
Of course when we asked why we had to continue to pay for a 25 year old, trillion dollar yo-yo (i.e. it does nothing but go up and down, up and down) that doesn't go anywhere, they sold us the International Space Station. How magnanimous and I'm sure, unanimous.

[stravinskyrules]

Then someone sold them a bill of goods called the Space Shuttle and we the people have been "reaping the benefits" ever since. Of course when we asked why we had to continue to pay for a 25 year old, trillion dollar yo-yo (i.e. it does nothing but go up and down, up and down) that doesn't go anywhere, they sold us the International Space Station. How magnanimous and I'm sure, unanimous.

I don't disagree with your points here, however that doesn't mean I don't want my tax dollars to fund exploration or SANE forward thinking space policies and programs.

The Shuttle era is a result of a short sighted Congress and ultimately, a short sighted citizenry.