[FPSPACE] No money to put astronauts back on Moon by 2020; Moonnot a realistic goal--Augustine Panel

[Zeger Nuyens]

>
> Man hours in space, number of modules attached together in orbit,  launches 
> per year, most powerful rocket, longest manned mission ...I could go  on, 
> but why?
>  
>   
As far as Man hours in space goes,Russia is still clearly in the lead. 
They build an enormous lead in the Salyut-Mir days. I think today it 
must be something like 60-40 in their favor.
However this is just trivia. What is going on right now is much more 
serious and it really saddens me deeply.
I remember in the post Columbia days a lot of people were crying out for 
a  real vision for manned spaceflight. Well, we never got it and we 
won't get it any time soon. Setting out a space policy and not funding 
it is all we got.
One can really only hope for an ET landing on the White House lawn or 
maybe a dramatic change of course of Apophis or another of Grondine's 
beloved asteroids making it a sure hit.
It should wake our governments,should it?

Zeger Nuyens