[chator]

I'm totally in line with NASA's Return to the Moon project. It seems the logical place to start to reboot manned space exploration into our distant star system. We've already proven we can get there, now we can go back with technologies we didn't have the first time around. We already have some basic knowledge learned the first time around and know what more we need to learn and do once there. Enter Mars Advocate Robert Zubrin, he wants us to go to Mars now, says it can be done cheaply with existing technologies. Personally, i think he wants it so badly its clouding his judgement. Does it make any sense to go to Mars now? Its farther and presents more challenges than Moon colonization. Shouldn't we go to the Moon first? Is Zubrin just off his rocker?

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/0...mars-nasa.html

[omegaman]

We should not be going to Mars until we have established a permanent base on the moon for at least twenty years.

[Solex]

Originally Posted by omegaman

We should not be going to Mars until we have established a permanent base on the moon for at least twenty years.

I completely agree, but I think that it should be thirty.

[Captain Tom Coughlin]

Like a lot of Trek fans, I love the idea of getting going on space exploration and the first baby steps of colonization of space. However, I'm not sold on the idea that this is the time for America to be putting the tax dollars into it. There is a lot of things on our plate here that needs to be addressed in terms of a deficit that seems to be about to spiral out of control, two foreign wars, and a ton of work that needs to be done in the American infrastructure. I think that the priority right now should be on the US getting it's house in order first.

[chator]

Originally Posted by Captain Tom Coughlin

Like a lot of Trek fans, I love the idea of getting going on space exploration and the first baby steps of colonization of space. However, I'm not sold on the idea that this is the time for America to be putting the tax dollars into it. There is a lot of things on our plate here that needs to be addressed in terms of a deficit that seems to be about to spiral out of control, two foreign wars, and a ton of work that needs to be done in the American infrastructure. I think that the priority right now should be on the US getting it's house in order first.

The question is how we do it and if spending money on space is considered at best a luxury expense or at worst pork. I see spending on space as a future investment and the kind of investments we should be making. Government makes alot of bad investment decisions, like going to war, military spending instead of healthcare, etc. I think investing in space is smart, it forces new technological breakthroughs that can be put to domestic use. I agree that we should also be investing in American infrastructure, education and healthcare, and rebuilding America as an industrial economy.