[Destro]

No what you said is jingoistic and silly, opespringseternal and shows me you know little of the facts.

In fact the French-using big dumb boosters undersell NASA in putting up satellites as do the Chinese.

I know the Space Shuttle looks good on a poster but it is not a good program.

[hopespringseternal]

In fact the French-using big dumb boosters undersell NASA in putting up satellites as do the Chinese.

Yes. And? Claiming economy in comparison with the shuttle is like claiming compassion in comparison to Stalin.

I know the Space Shuttle looks good on a poster but it is not a good program.

Actually, it is not a good launch system. It is a jack-of-all-trades, and master of none.

[UnChained]

Why Mars? A Mars landing would be much less significant symbolically than the lunar landings. I think the asteroid belt has more potential for space industry. If pure science is the justification, we can get that without manned landings.

I'm pro space exploration but Mars seems like a total dead end that would siphon off resources from more productive missions.

It's really hard to get anything into orbit. Once we have climbed out of a hole, why would we want to descend into another one?