WASHINGTON (AFP) – US ambitions for manned space exploration have hit a major hurdle in the wake of severe budget constraints, according to preliminary findings of a panel appointed by President Barack Obama.
Reaching Mars was deemed too risky while returning to the Moon by 2020 was ruled out barring an additional three billion dollars per year to replace the retiring space shuttle fleet and build bigger rockets, according to the group led by Norm Augustine, a former CEO of US aerospace giant Lockheed Martin.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090819/ts_alt_afp/usspace
In other news, US$250 billion per quarter being gifted to thieving bankers:
The only reason we have any "resemblance" of a functioning credit system at all at the present time is that the government and Fed are pumping upwards of $250 billion dollars a quarter - that is, $1 trillion a year - into the system to subsidize bad credit risks and keep those who have been and are getting screwed by these frauds - so long as they're other banks and businesses - from having to bear the cost of these acts.
Instead of locking up the bank robbers (who wear a $3,000 suit instead of a kevlar vest and a gun) we are covering their theft with taxpayer money.
http://market-ticker.denninger.net/
If I read this right, white collar criminals have cost us a big chunk of our space program, not to mention a couple decades of general future prosperity.