The following may be (?) OT for this NG, but I believe a lot of the
people on this group are interested, one way or another, in manned space
flight, so I'll pass the following along:


WHAT'S NEW Robert L. Park Friday, 16 Sep 05 Washington, DC

4. THE POISON PILL: NASA UNVEILS PLANS TO VISIT THE MOON IN 2018.

2018? In 1961 John Kennedy promised the Moon "before this decade
is out." From a standing start, America was on the moon in seven
years. Now, after 44 years of "space progress," it's gonna take
twice as long? What are we looking for? NASA says they'll find
water, hydrogen and "valuable commodities." On the Moon? Go on!
Maybe someone takes that seriously, but he's not writing this
column. We've got robots on Mars right now. Put a few of them
on the moon. They don't break for lunch, or complain about the
cold nights, and they live on sunshine. Space exploration with
humans is about over. The bills won't come due until Bush is
safely out of office. Stick the next administration with an
impossibly expensive and pointless program and let them take the
blame for ending human space exploration. This is a poison pill.

Opinions are the author's and not necessarily shared by the
University of Maryland -- but they should be.

Archives of What's New can be found at http://www.bobpark.org