New Mars Forums

It's interesting that you set aside so easily two trip's into space. That, my friend, may not make him an expert, but it certainly makes him far more experienced in the field of space exploration than anybody else on this forum I would imagine (setting aside the idea that many of you are astronauts  ). :;):

Indeed, there are many useless fed programs out there, I just took the nuclear arms program because I thought it was one of the more obviously over inflated programs that we have. But indeed, the funding is there. As far as the government, I think that we desperately need to work for a cleaner, more representative government in this nation. We let the government get to this point, and we are the only one's who can change it. And hopefully, under that changed government, we'll get a space program that makes sense, not the useless bureaucratic BS that comes out of NASA these day's.

Im sorta guessing that was a joke, right? lol

I agree that the Moon will eventually need a base, but its not a necessity for going to Mars. Not in the least really. And in fact, establishing a permanent manned presence on Mars would be much easier than on the Moon for a number of factors (read 'The Case for Mars' if you haven't already, by Dr. Robert Zubrin). Also, there are many space enthusiasts out there, such as Tom Hanks, who may be willing to assist in such a program down the road with funding and support. While we are doing this, I don't believe we should stop lobbying for the Mars Direct plan in the government. In fact, I've come up with something of an idea that I emailed to Dr. Zubrin several days ago. The United States spends 35 billion dollars annually on our nuclear arms program (maintenance, new launch vehicles, clean up, etc.). If we shaved even just 4 or 5 billion dollars off that a year, we could fund the Mars Direct plan starting NOW instead of 20 or so years, and get to mars before 2020 (maybe even by 2015). Now of course George Bush would never go for such a plan, but Dr. Zubrin suggested John Kerry may be willing to listen to such an idea. If any of you would like to know where I got my figures from, feel free to email me at EQfan592@aol.com (which is also my AIM name). If you want help in this company, sign me up. I done have much money, and am currently a student, but I'd like to think I'm at least a fairly sharp person, and I believe I could bring a lot to the table Anyway, we shall see what happens, and write to John Kerry (as it seems he will be getting the democratic ticket) and anybody else you think might listen, and tell them about this idea if you feel so inclined. Thanks for listening

Don't be mistaken in thinking that all liberals are against the space program my friends I, personally, am extremely liberal, and I feel that the space program is extremely important, especially plans like Mars Direct that make SENSE! Now if we could only get rid of some of the bureaucracy in NASA, things might get rolling