mrtravel wrote:
[ about landing on land instead of water ]
The Russians have been doing it for almost 50 years, I doubt the US has
learned the economics of this yet.

Another thing about the Russians... thank goodness they built that
Progress automated supply rocket. With all the shuttle delays the past
few years, their unmanned device has kept the ISS going. So unmanned
is handy sometimes.

OTOH, man is adventurous, and I believe we need the knowledge gained by
sending people into space. Think of it this way: would millions of
people around the world have watched as closely back in 1969, if it
were just a robot setting foot on the moon? No way. The whole point
was sending men to the moon and bringing them back again safely.

I cannot imagine not exploring space at least partly in person. That'd
be like all of us still sitting in Europe while robots roamed North
America since 1492.

Cheers, Kev