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Hey... there ain't nothing in this solar system worth a shovel of dung... except earth.

KILLER SATELLITES... manned. We can learn more from these than any cheesy probe to a frozen rock!

Think about this... if the USA isn't around in 2200, your great-great grand children will be cooking over a campfire... not traveling to another galaxy!

We would be in Dark Age's II. Put that in your pipe.

KILLER SATELLITES... manned. We can learn more from these than any cheesy probe to a frozen rock!

Cite sources. I helped to fly a spacecraft to another planet when I was working at JPL. We were able to gather a wealth of knowledge that will further our understanding of this solar system we live in.

Isn't this just another case of "all the eggs in one basket"? I'm actually working on a sci-fi novel where the UN, with the aid of a sentient supercomputer, overwhelms the US in the middle future, around 2100. Between the computer/king/premier's tactical brilliance and the earth's centrally coordinated industrial power, we good guys are almost overwhelmed. (The computer thing isn't really important to this post :oP ) The story is focused on a few people living in the US's daughter colonies fighting to keep the commies grounded and ultimately destroy the People's Republic of Earth.

ANYWAY...It just seems to me that we can't depend on our nation to hold up forever, whether it be for 50 years of 500 years. It is best that other free people, intellectual descendents of Americans, be out there to carry our ideals into the unreachable depths of space just in case the worst came to worst.

After all, the greatness of our nation isn't based on culture, location, or race like all other countries on earth, but on our ideals, embodied in the Constitution. This is something I am 100% sure that we agree on. Is it not our duty to see that all avenues are pursued to see that our heritage of freedom is preserved for all generations everywhere, even those on the moon or on some distant world orbiting Alpha Cenauri? Our Father in Heaven forgive us if their children study Chariman Mao in school instead of George Washington, and instead of valuing the experiment in liberty that we cherish, laugh at the foolishness of the mighty ancient Americans, who ceded the whole universe to the wise and cunning Chinese workers.

WHOOPS! Misread your post! My mistake. :P Why not make a "carrier" type ship that carries a small squadron of "fighters." Maybe a total compliment of 14 with 4 to run the carrier and two men per fighter. They could be rediculously simple, something like an elongated cone with a heat shield on the bottom and a laser/missiles/buckshot projector on front. Strap the engine to the bottom of the shield and run the fuel/control lines around it. Steer with thrusters of gyroscopes. No need to bother with pressurizing the thing except in an emergency; let the cone drivers stay in suits.

The carrier wouldn't have to be terribly substantial. Make it like an erector set project, with 5 docking slips and armored crew quarters, defensive weaponry, engine modules, fuel tanks, and armories all widely distributed on the open frame so that the thing can lose a bunch of function in many areas and keep on fighting.

The thing wouldn't have to be much bigger than the current shuttles, and the whole thing could probably be built in 6 or 7 Delta(?) launches.

Again, sorry about the confrontational read!