Whether we should go back to the moon, or to some Lagrange point away from a planatary gravity well is debatable.
The real question is:
Why cannot OUR purported Leader get his act together on a National Level for the Country instead of all these petty fiefdoms run by lobbyists. Is he too shallow a person to handle the position? He proved he can squander money.
Maybe a SWAP FOR SHUTTLES program is in order.

NASA’s moon plan too ambitious, Obama panel says

A panel reviewing NASA’s current plans for human space flight will report that there is no realistic way to return to the moon by 2020 — or even 2028.

Was that the message Congress gave JFK? No,

On May 25, 1961, President John F. Kennedy announced before a special joint session of Congress the dramatic and ambitious goal of sending an American safely to the Moon before the end of the decade.

That was the message. We did it in eight years from scratch.
Then, Kennedy didn’t have to deal with moonbats, wild-eyed socialist cranks, Luddites and total morons.
The loons were present, just shouldered aside by sensible people getting things done.

WASHINGTON — NASA doesn’t have nearly enough money to meet its goal of putting astronauts back on the moon by 2020 — and it might be the wrong place to go, anyway. That’s one of the harsh messages emerging from a sweeping review of NASA’s human space flight program. [snip]

The Human Space Flight Plans Committee, appointed by President Barack Obama and headed by retired aerospace executive Norman Augustine, has been trying to stitch together some kind of plausible strategy for America’s manned space program. [snip]

Guess Obama can’t get this off the ground either.

The panel has struggled to find options that stay under the current budget and include missions worthy of the cost and effort.
The committee members will meet with administration officials Friday and will report that there is no realistic way to get Americans back on the moon by the target date of 2020, which has been the agency’s goal since President George W. Bush signed off on the “Vision for Space Exploration” in 2004. Landing on the moon by 2020 would require such drastic budgetary maneuvers as de-orbiting the International Space Station — crashing it into the South Pacific — in 2016. [snip]

$50 BILLION GAP
The “program of record” — NASA’s current strategy — has not fared well in the committee’s review. Former astronaut Sally Ride, a member of the panel, said the gap between NASA’s goals and its current budget totals roughly $50 billion by 2020. …[snip]…
“If you’re willing to wait until 2028, you’ve got a heavy lift vehicle, but you’ve got nothing to lift,” she said. “You cannot do this program on this budget.” [snip]

What did the Pontiff of the Potomac piss away on the Porkulus bill? What does he want to destroy with Cap&Tax and that goofy but disastrous Death Care bill?
What went to shovel ready jobs…er-well, so far, it went to buy the shovels, you know we have to get bids from contractors in Dodd’s, Biden’s an we had to put out bids.

OTHER PROGRAMS
The panel is certain to recommend extending the life of the International Space Station.

Excellent, let the internationals put up more loot for getting their butts up there, including the means, not just buying seats on our shuttles.

It is also pushing hard for greater commercialization of space, including using private companies to taxi astronauts to Low Earth Orbit.

WOW,this is telling!

Private companies can do a better job of commercializing space and taxiing personnel into space.
However, the evil Insurance Companies, Big Oil, Big Pharma and soon Big Solar and Windmills are gouging America. More epistles from the Apostles, somebody gonna be struck by lightning on their way to DamasCus.

Some options include pulling the plug on the Ares I rocket that NASA has been building for four years. The Ares I is supposed to replace the space shuttle, the final flight of which is slated for late 2010. Billions have already been spent on the rocket, which is scheduled for an inaugural test flight this month.

Wasting money is an art form in the District of Criminals; remember, a new budget means new lobbyists, new contributions and fresh graft.
Other districts need money waved at them to insure correct voting on certain bills.

Archived in: NASA, Obama, Porkulus