Bush lied. Just like his father did. Bush Sr. also said he was going to take us to Mars and back to the Moon etc..etc… Unfortunatly in the case of Bush Jr. he is costing us a lot more in the short term by cancelling projects like the Hubble which has brought us more scientific data than the entire Apollo project combined for a mere fraction of the price.

We only have the budget for one or the other, Hubble and pure science, or trips to the Moon and Mars. Most don’t understand just how far away we are from real space technology. As it is now, we are the equivilant of 3000BC Sumer wondering how to make a boat float. But our leader is claiming we’ll be sailing magnificant ships and conquering other Continents in no time. Meanwhile the people in charge of making the boats can’t even make one work in the bathtub.

So you have a simple binary choice:

1) Spend all our money making the “best boat we can” and send it to Mars. But for what result?

2) Spend all our money doing research, in the hopes that one day we’ll have a better boat and can go even further than places like Mars.

Well, personally I think money is better spent on things like Hubble than a short-sighted trip to the moon or Mars.

We don’t have any capability whatsoever for bases on the moon or Mars (Regardless of what Bush says, he doesent work in the trenches), so why go there? To bring back a few rocks? To make people feel better? Oh I know, maybe a few Martians will pop out and say “Here are the secrets to the Universe”.

Keep sending probes until something viable and opportune presents itself, meanwhile spend the money on propulsion technology, biospace projects, deep space probes etc…

Stuff we can build upon. Everything has a foundation, but Bushs “vision” doesent seem to understand our foundation at the moment is breadcrumbs. But hey, we’re going to Mars!

Once we have the technology in place, then start thinking about broadening your horizons.

As it is now, we (USA) are going to dump our space funds into a trip that has no purpose but morale, and we’re going to lose a decade of pure research because of it.

Doesent make a whole lotta sense to this ‘Geezer. The only way were gettin off this rock is if someone lifts us up, or we need about 500 years or so on our own time. Which frankly doesent seem like it’s gonna happen.