VP Pence Talks Moon Return and Mars Mission at NASA

Vice President Mike Pence spoke at NASA's Johnson Space Center on Thursday about the agency's plans to send humans back to the moon for the first time in almost half a century and eventually on to Mars. He said: The next Americans who set foot on the Moon will start their journey by stepping through the NASA's Orion hatch. And this extraordinary spacecraft will one day bridge the gap between our planet and the next.

The International Space Station has been an unqualified success. Soon and very soon American astronauts will return to space on American rockets launched from American soil. America will not ever abandon the critical domain of space, we will open the way for innovators and development and we will lead once again in human exploration. Our administration is working tirelessly to put an American crew aboard the lunar orbital platform before the end of 2024. In a prepared statement, Pence added, "We're renewing our national commitment to discovery and exploration and write the next great chapter of our nation's journey into space. It's now the official policy of the US that we'll return to the Moon, put Americans on Mars and once again explore the farthest depths of outer space."

Comments

Re:Evolutionnary

[Anonymous Coward]

We have the technology base to handle almost every item on the above list. The scientific concepts are well understood and can jump from the white board to the real world IF someone is willing to commit the resources. The resources committed to the first Moon landings were limitless because the US wanted to one up the USSR and score a major propaganda win during the cold war. The USSR put the first satellite and man in orbit so the US needed something dramatic to show the world to make the USSR accomplishments look like something you would find a elementary school science fair.

Can you imagine how long the list of non-existing technologies NASA had to overcome to get people to the Moon and back? Of course during that era the US public wasn't a bunch of risk adverse pussies unwillingly to leave their safe spaces because they can't deal with a world that is neither safe or fair and growth requires risk and risk means there will be failures and setbacks as we move forward. Every man and women who has traveled to orbit knew going in the risks they would face. Every single man or women who has died while attempting to challenge the gravity well would be appalled if their deaths were used by a weak willed public and the politicians that pander to the cowards to curtail space exploration because it is dangerous.

What we don't have is a workable plan to actually build a real space craft. The ISS should have been the first step in creating an orbital platform on which to build and service space vehicles. Going to the Moon again or going to Mars should not be the top priorities. They are dead worlds that have little to offer other than planting a flag, making some footprints, and taking some selfies. A real honest to god space station would be a solid step in furthering any space exploration.

Re:Evolutionnary

[MachineShedFred]

This is the one reason that I feel that any moon landing conspiracy theory is ridiculous and absurd:

1. The USSR had radar capable of tracking the Apollo flights. If we didn't go, they would have been more than happy to let the entire world know in order to reverse the propaganda effect of faking it.

Plus, there's also mountains of physical evidence, including retroreflectors on the lander descent stages that you (for various well equipped values of "you") can bounce a laser off of.