On today’s 40th anniversary of the moon landing, President Obama should again show bravery and determination by not indulging in more space exploration, Alex Pareene urges for Gawker. NASA has $100 billion earmarked to replace the shuttles, in order to do what? Go “back to the damn moon, where we have been.” Dubya’s plans for a Mars colony are even more expensive—and with a payoff even farther away.
Why not focus on our abundant terrestrial problems? Wouldn’t it be nice, Pareene asks, to have that $100 billion for, you know, providing coverage to the uninsured? Or finding solutions to global warming “and maybe forestall the day when we destroy our atmosphere and actually do have to flee the planet in a hurry?”
(More Mars stories.)