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CarneyAug 13th 2009 3:50PM

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We went to the Moon from a standing start in 1961 - in a nation that did not yet even have the push button phone, let alone Cape Canaveral, JPL, deep space communications and tracking, orbital rendezvous, heavy lift vehicles, space suits, lunar landers, etc etc. We are still coasting on the infrastructure we built during Apollo. And yet our current plans call for going to the Moon in 16 years, TWICE the time it took last time, and 50 years after the first time. Pathetic.

We should do the Mars Society's Mars Direct plan instead.

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aiusepsiSep 16th 2009 1:49PM

Neutral

The trouble isn't the technology, it's the political will. Going to the Moon requires a massive effort, massive expenditure, and a willingness to tolerate that there may well be fatal accidents.

In the midst of the Cold War, it was politically expedient to beat the Russians in the space race, especially as the same technology (rockets, guiding systems, etc.) could then be re-purposed for nuclear missiles.

There's no question that we could get to the Moon more easily today than we could 50 years ago, but we don't have nearly the same motivation to do so.

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