The Augustine Commission created to examine options for human spaceflight is saying what everyone knew but most would not admit. With the current NASA budget, we're not going anywhere. Not the Moon. Not Mars. Nowhere beyond Earth orbit. Panelist Sally Ride, looking at the cost projections, said, "There was not enough money to even start the lunar systems."
A $3B/year plus-up for NASA, which has the same chance of happening under the current Administration and Congress as the stapler on my desk has of becoming a sentient life form, would put us on the Moon in 2025, five years later than the current schedule (which originally said 2018).
"Put out the stars.
Slam shut the teeming skies.
Abandon in place.
Burn out your eyes."
- from a poem by Ray Bradbudy on visiting the abandoned Apollo sites at KSC
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