Mars Landing tonight

[hi_im_god]

i hope there won't be a american manned mission back to the moon in the lifetime of anyone posting here, much less a far more difficult mars mission.

getting back to the moon will be about $100 billion in current dollars. even though the current administration has set the goal of returning by 2020, it has left the bulk of that spending for future administrations to figure out. i hope no one is going to spend that kind of money on a stunt we already pulled.

there is no real reason for a manned space program at present. robots can do almost everything a human can accomplish in space for far less money. the space station flies around in near earth orbit and it's essential mission is studying the long term impact of space flight on humans. that doesn't really make sense. we spend billions studying the impact on humans of something far better suited for a machine?

i'm a huge proponent of space exploration. there are more mars robots coming including a sample return mission. great. that makes sense.

but the space station is a boondoggle. as is human flight to other planets.