"Rick Russell" <rickr@is.rice.edu> wrote in message
news:btckea$dau$1@joe.rice.edu...

In article <Yq4Kb.21019$lo3.17226@newsread2.news.pas.earthlink.net>,
Jack Crenshaw  <jcrens@earthlink.net> wrote:

haven't made any attempt to colonize it.  We couldn't even go there now,
even if we tried.  We don't have the technology anymore.  But, hey, we
know how to build MP3 players.  Such a deal.

So, what's your solution? More taxes, and spend the money on space
research instead of MP3 players?

If people are free to choose what they want, they will usually choose
immediate comfort rather than long-term scientific goals.

  Lets face the reality, moon missions were not funded for the purposes
scientific acheivement and or long term space travel capabilities, it was
rightly tagged, a "space race".  Why not Mars?  The Soviets are gone, but
not to Mars...:) The Space race was always a short term goal, and never
enjoyed a "going concern" assumption of a private corporation. Now if
Kennedy had adlibbed an inspired (Bush styled) faux pass and added "...and
then we will send a man to Mars..." we might still be in the game of saving
face...:)

Rick R.