Revamping space exploration is always positive, whoever pays for it.

And seriously guys, why all the cheap shots on Bush? I really liked Clinton as a US president and it annoys me when people rag on him just for the sake of it, so try cutting Bush and his supporters a little slack too huh? If you have legit criticisms then fine, otherwise you're just picking fights. Sorry to sound like a nanny, but rhetorical cheap-shots start wars...

I think it's a fine idea. Chrissake, I was supposed to have the option of living on a moon colony during my life. If watching an astronaut walk on Mars is as close as I can get, I'm all for it.

Of course (WARNING -- BOMB), there is always the issue of how, like Johnson, another Texas president is securing long-term money for Texas. [img]graemlins/heee.gif[/img] But, I'm willing to forego that for a very good program.

And I note this is yet another link between how Kennedy and Bush think and act. ;)

If the money is going spare then by all means do it.

Of course this isn't the first time this has been floated by a Bush! :D

Snr suggested a trip to the moon and to mars in 1989 but it was dropped because of the cost of $400 billion (at the time).

I saw Andy Rooney on 60 Minutes yesterday and he makes a good point about the mission to Mars. We're spending $1.5 billion to go there yet we have yet to solve our problems here on at home.

I'm all for exploration and the seeking of knowledge. In a way, it's continuing where Columbus and Ponce de Leon and all those guys left off.
However...
It's just too much money right now. We can't spare it when we need it back here.

But human problems can never be 'solved'! Famine, War, Pestilence, Death, they will be with our species until its inevitable extinction. The best you can hope for is distraction. Mass distraction provides temporary unity. Get everyone involved in some lofty project, no matter how unrealistic, and take their minds off've the hungers and malcontent that they have in their daily lives. This tactic has been employed by power-figures since the dawn of civilisation. If you are not distracting your populace with empty promises of religious salvation, then do it with consumerist 'perfection'. Get people to want to buy houses and cars and kitchenware, and to find 'true love'. And if people start to realise that THAT is a false dream as well, then distract them with scientific goals such as exploring space or 'curing cancer'.
Why fight it? Your human brain is far too big to ever be content with what it has. It needs constant stimulation, even if it costs billions of taxpayer dollars ;)

[ 01-27-2004, 12:09 AM: Message edited by: The Hierophant ]

Realize that if people are sent to Mars, it is unlikely that they would be able to return to Earth. It is essentially a suicide mission. At the moment it is not possible to carry enough fuel to make the trip and come back.

Mark

But there's a much better chance if they can launch from the moon, hence the talks about a permanent base there. People WILL walk Mars someday, you better believe it.

Rubbish! What about dilithium crystals!!!

It's science Jim but not as we know it.!!

But human problems can never be 'solved'! Famine, War, Pestilence, Death, they will be with our species until its inevitable extinction. The best you can hope for is distraction. Mass distraction provides temporary unity. Get everyone involved in some lofty project, no matter how unrealistic, and take their minds off've the hungers and malcontent that they have in their daily lives. This tactic has been employed by power-figures since the dawn of civilisation. If you are not distracting your populace with empty promises of religious salvation, then do it with consumerist 'perfection'. Get people to want to buy houses and cars and kitchenware, and to find 'true love'. And if people start to realise that THAT is a false dream as well, then distract them with scientific goals such as exploring space or 'curing cancer'.
Why fight it? Your human brain is far too big to ever be content with what it has. It needs constant stimulation, even if it costs billions of taxpayer dollars ;) </font>[/QUOTE]Good point Hiero. My thoughts too when any leaders spend this much money on something seemingly good for al humanity YET realistically frivolous during this time of war and bad economy. I'm still pondering why Bush. Of all people in this world and especially from a conservative person, why this Mission to Mars idea. I just don't get it. There must be some underlying or lying reason.