| The U.S. space program has been stagnant for years now. The shuttle is old technology, the International Space Station hasn't really accomplished much. The last moon landing was more than 30 years ago. In 2003, we launched twin robots to soft land on Mars, and got pictures and data that pretty much duplicated what we got with the Viking soft landing of 1973. I think it's time to curtail manned missions and devote those resources to developing A) new propulsion technologies, and B) the theoretical physics required to break the speed of light barrier. Chemical rockets will never acheive the efficiencies required to make solar system exploration and exploitation viable, and will certainly never be effective for interstellar travel. Re-doing the same missions with newer equipment is hardly to be considered scientific advancement.
"Everybody knows that the boat is leaking
Everybody knows that the captain lied." - Leonard Cohen |