"Dan Luke" wrote in message
...
"Jay Honeck" wrote:
I caught most of it -- and it was fantastic!

It was appalling, to me. Is the man completely insensible to the federal
deficit? He certainly seems insensible to the impracticalities of manned
travel to Mars. I think people on Mars would be a wonderfully cool
thing, but our national credit card is already maxed out. Sometimes you
have to put "cool" on hold and make sure the rent is paid.

To hear a president actually promoting manned
space travel, and laying out a plausible, doable plan

Just about anything is doable with enough money. Do we have it to spare?
Much more science could be done for much less with robots.

I often tell my children how the U.S. once led the world in space
travel, and of how my generation grew up with the excitement
and national pride of putting a man on the moon.

It was a cold war propaganda campaign. It was very successful in that
respect.

Until today, I would also sadly explain to them
how we had squandered our future, and abandoned the dream...

No, we simply came to understand (some of us) that manned space travel
is unconscionably wasteful until we get past rocket ship technology,
which may take decades.
--
Dan
C172RG at BFM
(remove pants to reply by email)



Yes, the real question is: What do we have to give up to get this new space
program? How about Medicare? The cost if about the same. Lets have a
vote! Do you want Medicare or a Mars program. It is foolish to ask
someone whether or not they want something unless you tell them what it will
cost. Several years ago it was decided that technology wasn't ready for the
Nationaly Aerospace Plane. I guess that since it is an election year, all
that must have changed. Too bad Teddy Roosevelt isn't running this time.

Mike
MU-2