Re:Real Space Travel... (Score 1)

I think that NASA does want to pursue even greater challenges with regard to space exploration. It is that the American public, and hence Congress, are too fickle and uninterested to put up the money to support it. Short of its perceived entertainment value, the majority of americans seem to have little interest in space exploration. NASA has always wanted to send people to Mars and build moon bases and the like. I know that the engineers at NASA are imaginative and can be forward thinking about the future of humans in space. The problem is that NASA is a federal agency and is thus restrained from doing anything that the U.S. government doesn't want to spend the money on, and the red tape of beaurocracy is awfully thick these days. Commercial space endeavors have great potential for opening up space to future industry, but again, the money to fund these projects has been slow in forthcoming. Why is this? It is because space is too risky and expensive for venture capitalists to fund safely. Until it can be proven that space can make a profit, and a big profit at that, the money will be in short supply. The U.S. gave up on its forward drive into the unknown after we beat the Soviets to the moon. Now, sadly, we stagnate as a space nation, sending endless shuttle missions to putter around in low earth orbit. I know that those at NASA have the same dreams that you and I have, going to Mars and finally seeing what's there, building a permanent base on the moon, and someday sending spacecraft beyond our solar system to see what's out there. However, until there is vocal public support, or someone makes a major commercial space breakthrough, I think we will continue to stagnate. I for one am glad that the Chinese have taken an interest in manned space flight, whatever their reasons.