why bother?

[glenc]

http://www.smh.com.au/news/specials/science/the-question-eating-astronauts--why-bother/2008/10/01/1222651169232.html
"NASA is very nervous about manned space flight these days, and what with the costs and casualties of the shuttle program, it has good reason to be. None of this bodes well for the nebulous Bush plan to go to Mars, a perilous and wildly expensive journey that may have to wait for many moons..."

Should we have manned missions or is it better to have robots?

[CoombellKid]

A good arguement all around. Robots seem to be doing a great job so far,
and the technology gets better all the time. Sending people seems to me
to be more of an ego thing, but I guess it is going to happen one day,
hopefully in my lifetime.

regards,CS

[OneOfOne]

I am a supporter of parallel threads. I don't think we would be truly advanced in space exploration if we could talk about all of the probes we have sent to all the corners of the solar system but had not actually left the ground ourselves. Only by advancing on all fronts will we ever become a truly spacefaring civilisation. Some times you really do need to boldy go where no man (or robot) has gone before:)