Recently, Jay Honeck posted:

I caught most of it -- and it was fantastic! To hear a president
actually promoting manned space travel, and laying out a plausible,
doable plan to get our space program back on track, was a breath of
fresh air on a bleak and dreary January day.

Well, I caught it, and have a rather diferent picture of his idea.

* There is no plan for financing this notion. The effort would take more
money than we have *ever* appropriated for NASA, and in an environment
where people complain about the $820 million that the *two* current Mars
missions cost, coming up with perhaps 100x that amount is unlikely.

* There has always been strong sentiments against manned space flight, to
the point where we haven't been able to even finish our commitments to the
space station and other far more economical projects.

* Such an undertaking would be more feasible if it was an international
effort. However, since has GWB proven that he can't "just get along" with
the rest of the world, it's unlikely that other countries would be willing
to pitch in on such a project.

Hell, maybe we'll set foot on Mars before I die after all?

I'd bet that we won't hear another word about it after November. And, of
course, it will somehow turn out to be the Democrats' fault. ;-)

Neil