I'll kick this off by asking - should we get rid of (or at least replace) NASA?
They seem to have fallen into the abyss of bureaucracy - where the sole motivation is to protect existing turf and employ paper-pushers. The delays (not to mention the general design) of the Constellation replacement for the shuttle is an excellent example. The Onion summed up this attitude within the agency nicely: [link]:
http://www.theonion.com/content/news/nasa_embarks_on_epic_delay
Why not get NASA *out* of the implementation (and control) of manned space flight and let them be a contractor TO private industry, providing launch services, etc. And allow others to complete against NASA for those services. Both would be better, the budgets (and overhead / deadhead) drastically reduced, and human space flight will get moving again.
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This reminded me of a soliticitation I got in the mail some years ago from the private, "Manned Mission to Mars" project - endorsed by none other than Carl Sagan himself. I wrote back and offered to contribute so long as they changed the name to the "Let's Get Chris Rhetts Into Space And Bring Him Back Safely Project". And I told them I wanted particular emphasis placed on the "bring him back safely" end of the deal. Funny, but I never heard back - maybe on account of my requesting a couple of nubile, 21 year old "cosmonettes" as crew. Ya think?
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