U.S. has plans to return to the moon

WOW I had always believed that the first moon landing was a hoax but maybe this one will be "real". NASA is planning to return to the moon within the next 15 or so years.

www.cnn.com...

I hope this one isn't a hoax.
So what does everyone think?

[Edited on 6-12-2003 by sftprez]

What a waste of money this is.



[Edited on 6-12-2003 by Ocelot]

What a great use of money this is.



i sure hope this will happen and not end up being debated about for years and years with nothing happening.

Not only a waste of money but also a waste of time and effort better spent on something else.
I for one do believe that the moon landing did take place
back in 1969 .
Which is why I see no reason to send another expedition up
there.
We know what the moon is like so what are we going to learn this time that we didn't know before?

I'm sure some people thought similar things back in the 15th century when the "New World" was found. Nothing but a bunch of land with tree's, dirt and rocks... same stuff that they have back in Europe. Why bother going? It would just cost money and time, not to mention many lives, but they still did it anyway. And now look how things are today.

I'm pretty sure they didn't see the long term affects of colonizing the New World back then. And i know we can't see all the long term affects of colonizing the moon now, but i feel it could lead to good things, (i'm sure there would be bad things too), but it would take time. I'm sure we wouldn't see the all benifits it could have in our life times, but that doesn't mean it's not worth doing.

Maybe they're going to set up something there permanetly, like a weapon or something.

There is seriously no other reason to go.

there are plenty of reasons to go, you guys cant seriously think they've found all they ever need to know about the moon already?

At the very least it will set the scene for permanent equipment being located on the moon, astronomical equipment in particular would be much more effective on the moon than on earth.

As well as collect data for further manned missions (say, perhaps, to Mars?)

Why in 15 years?

They have already been in there..
(supposedly at least..)

So why this much time?

Originally posted by jackopsychopants
Maybe they're going to set up something there permanetly, like a weapon or something.

There is seriously no other reason to go.

No reason to go? I can think of a few valuable natural resources on the moon.

Aluminum and titanium are two examples.

Originally posted by zvezdar
there are plenty of reasons to go, you guys cant seriously think they've found all they ever need to know about the moon already?

At the very least it will set the scene for permanent equipment being located on the moon, astronomical equipment in particular would be much more effective on the moon than on earth.

As well as collect data for further manned missions (say, perhaps, to Mars?)

We haven't found all we need to know? What more could we learn?

As well as for collecting data for mars missions, how would the moon help?

And for what use is going back the Moon going to be?
Its a waste of Time and money.
Deep

FULCRUM: what are we going to get there in? the shuttle can't get there. NASA has nothing else to get people into space. They need to develop something new first.

Some reasons to go to the moon:

Mining is a big one as already mentioned. One could set up large industrial areas on the moon for mining and refining. One could even set up factories for making stuff right there. Developing ship yards for making larger space craft. It would be easier to launch from the surface of the moon rather than Earth.

Astronomy as was also previously stated. Observatories would be so much better on the moon. There would be no atmospheric distortion. You could build them large or make a whole array of them. Much easier then with satillites.

Another thing would be extra living space. If the Earth gets to crowded at least there is another place to go. This also leads me to another point.

Since it would be easier to launch from the moon, it could make it easier to send bigger ships to Mars and begin to colonize that planet.

Thats how i see it anyway.

We haven't found all we need to know? What more could we learn?

As well as for collecting data for mars missions, how would the moon help?

How much of those could we actually get? And would we spend billions of dollars to get a limited amount of those materials when aren't exactly in short supply, especially aluminum.

Also, everything jra mentioned is at least 50 years away, much less 15.

Also, everything jra mentioned is at least 50 years away, much less 15.

Did i say this would be done in 15 years? No! I was talking about the long term benifits. Obviously this all won't happen in our life times. But the sooner we start the sooner we'll get to that point.

Originally posted by yogibear
Not only a waste of money but also a waste of time and effort better spent on something else.
I for one do believe that the moon landing did take place
back in 1969 .
Which is why I see no reason to send another expedition up
there.
We know what the moon is like so what are we going to learn this time that we didn't know before?

u think it's a waste of money...so do i
i'm sure the trip can be cancelled, and the fundings can yet again go to projects at raising you a couple notches up on the "End of the world" tally chart.
i think it would prove better if they end up on the moon, at least we'll know they've still got a tad bit of sense to go after something that won't end humanity as we see it today.
far-fetched? the daisy-cutter was an experiment gone wrong, so was the netron bomb...what were they really aiming at??
an antimatter bomb is being worked on as we speak.. does that register as dangerous or what??
Cyrus

the antimatter bomb?

Wow, we really are hell-bent on destroying ourselves.
Nuclear weapons are enough deterent.(or maybe we want a reason to go to war?)

sorry if I strayed off subject but you never know if the US ever plans to use the moon as a weapon.

[Edited on 7-12-2003 by jackopsychopants]

Originally posted by jackopsychopants
the antimatter bomb?

Wow, we really are hell-bent on destroying ourselves.
Nuclear weapons are enough deterent.(or maybe we want a reason to go to war?)

sorry if I strayed off subject but you never know if the US ever plans to use the moon as a weapon.

[Edited on 7-12-2003 by jackopsychopants]

if the U.S plans to get to the moon....that's a sign that they've diverted from their main aim a little(destroyingf all inhabitants)
Cyrus

But could going to the moon is part of their master plan to make sure man never makes it past 2020?

(Don't take that too seriously, I'm not paranoid or anything.)

Would we be better off to sit around on earth and carry on our bickering? Its about time we started to make a serious attempt to get all our eggs out of this one basket. The moon is the logical first step. Hooray for this idea, I just hope it is followed through.

Right...

There must be a logical reason for going to the moon AGAIN when we've done it quite a few times, and this reason must be pretty damn important, Bush knows that the democrats will veto it if they get into office within 15 years (and the odds say they will) so he's not going to spend billions on something that is at best a publicity stunt, Bush seeks a position in history, he's got all the bad reasons on his side, cheating in florida, sept 11th, Iraq and now he needs something to set him up there with Reagan, and i believe he's going to be the first to put a permanent human colony on the moon, even if its 5 or so people its still a triumph, and with the advent of this perhaps it will trigger a space revolution, with mankind looking towards the stars instead of to each others land. I mean, we already have ion engines (now that was a neat little breakthrough they kept quiet) so we can make journey's quicker than times of old.

Bush is just trying to secure his place in history.