"To which a considered response might be: go paint it on the wall of your cave. "
How many valuable, brilliant people were killed in how many other varied ways? Some of you guys are just plain nuts, or entirely intellectually dishonest.
Ever hear of the Louisiana Purchase or Louis and Clark?
The problem with manned space isn't intrinsic. It has been mired in bureaucracy and faced with severe congressional mismanagement. If you want to know why the space program languishes in irrelevency, look no further than your congressman. He hands billions to NASA, but offers no real oversight or interest in where that money is going. In fact, his main requirement of NASA is that it not attract attention, lest Dan Rather accuse him of squandering AIDS research money or stealing milk from babies.
That is a good point. What is the value of the land encompassed by the Louisiana Purchase, compared the price we paid for? At least a thousand, if not more.
Just because *we* don't see immediate benefits to a permanent colony on the moon, it doesn't mean there won't be any in 50 or 100 years.
Anyway, I'd much rather have the moon belong to Americans rather than a bunch of communists in China, even if it is nothing more than a big rock that we can carve giant words into.
Whoever establishes a foothold there first will own the moon (unless we do and our politicians simply give it away, which is a real possibility).
What the hell does the Space Shuttle have to do with any of that? What is the Space Shuttle exploring? NOTHING. ITS A DAMNED PORK-BARRELING BOONDOGGLE! There seems to be a new political-correctness taking over FR: Anything that NASA does is sacrosanct. NASA is a just another bureacracy like the Dept. of Education or the Social Security Administration. The sooner it is abolished, the better!