McCain wants to see an american on Mars.

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Presumptive Republican White House nominee John McCain said Thursday he would like to see a manned mission to Mars as part of a "better set of priorities" for NASA that would better engage the public.
At a townhall event in Florida, the Arizona senator was asked about funding for the US space agency's shuttle program, which is due to end in 2010.

He said he "would be willing to spend more taxpayers' dollars" to continue the program but argued that NASA must do a better job of inspiring the American public, as when it sent a man to the moon in 1969.

McCain said one of his favorite books as a child had been Ray Bradbury's 1950 novel "The Martian Chronicles," about humans colonizing the Red Planet.

"I am intrigued by a man on Mars and I think that it would excite the imagination of the American people if we can say, 'Hey, here's what it looks like," he said.

"We know that now, and here's what may be there and let's all join in that project. I think Americans would be very willing to do that."
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=080606111510.5jnz56gu&show_article=1
 
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We need to get our house in order before we go to Mars.
 
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Glad to see that NASA is finally getting some support. It's been delegated to back burner for way too long.

It is incredibly annoying to hear people complain about how "much we waste on NASA," when it is about .01% of the Federal budget.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates the Iraq War could cost up to 2.4 trillion dollars. NASA's annual budget is around 16 billion dollars.

We're basically spending the equivalent of 150 YEARS of NASA funding on the Iraq War, and then turning around and saying "we can't afford NASA funding."

It pisses me off, especially when people remain ignorant of all the enormous benefit we've gotten out of space--medicine, technology, advancements in physics..

We need to get our house in order before we go to Mars.
This is exactly the mentality that has harmed our scientific progress. We're nowhere near where we could be if we had science as a priority.

There will always be domestic problems, wars, issues, battles to be fought. You have to do both at the same time, because we're never either never going to get to the "perfectly happy, perfectly stable--we might as WELL explore space, because everything else is hunky-dory" point, or won't get there without funding space exploration in the first place.
 
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That's pretty much what I was thinking . . . Nasa makes our house orderly for 30 or so years by advancing science, creating jobs and massive market opportunities for high tech firms, and pulls the technological crown of achievments back here. America is suffering from many ills, amongst them is poor morale. A new space orientated goal is just what this country needs. Now, keep in mind, I'm not saying that we don't need to clean house here: we most certainly do. But I will say that doing both at once is not impossible.

I would prefer new achievements in space, rather than paying welfare for people who have no intention of working, or getting medical care for people who weren't ambitious enough to find a job that grants it, or, god forbid, paying 45 Trillion to fix global climate change that I'm almost positive we can't fix.
 
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What is even the purpose of exploring Mars at this juncture? Just to say we can? We went to the Moon and we haven't done **** with it since. If we're going to make space exploration a priority, how about we start working on a few Moon bases. How about we start investing in new technologies that make leaving the planet a cinch. Going to Mars at this point in time is a publicity stunt. Nothing more. I'm all for siphoning funds away from private contractors to pay for NASA's bills, but if we're going to do it, if we're going to make space exploration a priority, let's do it right.
 
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Looking at Mars as an endpoint misses the point of Space Exploration as a rejuvination of the American spirit. Not everyone is as cynnical as you are. For instance, there is still nothing gained materially from exploring the north and south poles, would you suggest we not explore them if they hadn't been explored already?
 
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Looking at Mars as an endpoint misses the point of Space Exploration as a rejuvination of the American spirit. Not everyone is as cynnical as you are.
Because going to Mars will make everything else go away. McCain, like Bush, will promise a lot of things. I think the state of science in this country as a direct result of the current administration's scorn is about as much as I can take. When we level off, we get our house in order (How is ending the Iraq "Conflict" not getting our house in order? As you said, Alea, we're spending a ****load of cash on a war that could be better used for something that benefits all of humanity) and then we get back on track. Using Mars as a political and propaganda tool to trick everyone into thinking everything is hunky dory isn't the way.

@ Your edit: That's exactly my point. We've been to the South and North poles and we've been to the Moon, but we've barely done anything with them. Let's continue exploring the Moon, let's build research stations there, let's send scientists there. Why are we jumping the gun when we've barely scratched the surface with what we have at home? To make people think America is awesome again? You're argument seems to be less about science, and more about ego.
 
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Because going to Mars will make everything else go away. McCain, like Bush, will promise a lot of things. I think the state of science in this country as a direct result of the current administration's scorn is about as much as I can take. When we level off, we get our house in order (How is ending the Iraq "Conflict" not getting our house in order? As you said, Alea, we're spending a ****load of cash on a war that could be better used for something that benefits all of humanity) and then we get back on track. Using Mars as a political and propaganda tool to trick everyone into thinking everything is hunky dory isn't the way.
I don't think McCain is using Mars as anything but what he states. McCain may not be perfect, and I personally support Obama--but I respect him. He stood up in front of the people of Michigan and told them flat out: your automotive jobs are gone, and the federal government can't magically bring them back. But we'll help you re-train.

Space exploration does benefit all of humanity. Do you think 1,000 years from now--or 5,000 years from now--people will remember the insignificant squabbles of Iraq and the USA?

Probably not. But they'll remember how we first split the atom, developed computers and took to the stars. Space exploration and aerospace are going to be how we actually make meaningful progress to the human race, rather than the petty squabblings of politics.

Edit: A trip to Mars isn't about the e-peens of Americans or individual scientists. It's because the public was enthralled with space travel in the beginning; it was new, exciting--and lots of support for it flowed freely. The first trip to the Moon was a proud and awe-inspiring moment for all of Mankind. But the public became bored with it, and support sharply dropped off.

Yes, we could wait until a trip to Mars would be less expensive (that's always the case), but the trip itself would hopefully re-ignite interest in space exploration. The astronauts doing it would have the honor of being the very first life form, and person, from Earth to step foot on another planet. Their name, and the country that manages to accomplish it, would be forever written in Human history and inspire a new generation of astronomers.
 
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I don't think McCain is using Mars as anything but what he states. McCain may not be perfect, and I personally support Obama--but I respect him. He stood up in front of the people of Michigan and told them flat out: your automotive jobs are gone, and the federal government can't magically bring them back. But we'll help you re-train.

Space exploration does benefit all of humanity. Do you think 1,000 years from now--or 5,000 years from now--people will remember the insignificant squabbles of Iraq and the USA?

Probably not. But they'll remember how we first split the atom, developed computers and took to the stars. Space exploration and aerospace are going to be how we actually make meaningful progress to the human race, rather than the petty squabblings of politics.
You're arguing as though I'm against funding NASA and space exploration. I'm against planning for Mars now because we have more important things to deal with. I don't post articles about space travel and tech all the time just for the fun of it. It's something I support with every fiber of my being. But we're in a bad way right now, and saying, "Hey, let's go to Mars." isn't solving anything, especially when the person saying that also wants to keep us in Iraq until "the job is done", whatever the hell that means. The cash we're using to fund Iraq would be better spent on science and tech. He isn't going to take money away from there, so where does he plan on taking the money from?

I just think he cares as much about science as the current president does. And in 5000 years, if we're on the same course as we are today, they won't remember anything we've done because they'll be too busy discovering fire.

Just to nitpick: Why just an American? Aren't we at a point in time where we can work together with other nations, and explore the stars as a unified race? Wouldn't we just be promoting division if we throw a joint-op to the wayside and do everything ourselves? I'm not saying we need help, but it'd be nice if, just once, we could do something huge as a team, just because we can, and not because we're trying to get something out of it.
 
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Because I was born in a time when people here were feircely American I suppose? I am now, and always have been, extremely proud of my country, even if I get angry at the leaders it elects. It should be an American achievement! Why we let all these great firsts go at that is beyond me, as it's pretty clear to me that the rest of the world is taking advantage of us slowing down. There are countries I'd love to see us work with, but half the world needs to come out of the stone age for it to be a humanity thing, and I just don't see that coming any time soon.

As for the war in Iraq, I'm of the opinion that pulling out now would be a disaster beyond scope. I'm pretty sure that Obama is going to win, so we'll see (if he even has the spine to yank our millitary out of there when he gets in). Do I think the war was neccesary, partially yes, but it was handled very, very badly. I think tucking tail, pulling out, and leaving the fledgling new government screwed would be a terrible mistake.

I still think Mars is a neccesary milestone for mankind, and the US, and I don't think it's mutually exclusive of cleaning house.
 
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Here I'll word it the easy way so everyone can support going to mars right now.

OMG THE TERRORISTS ARE ON MARS AND PLANING TO CRASH MARS INTO THE EARTH!

We have simulated footage of what this would look like and why it must be stopped!


I think this would work as a boost to the economy what with all the job making and whatnot. Cause for some reason it turns out that fighting in wars for years and years and years on end doesn't help the economy. Who would of thought eh?
 
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I still think Mars is a neccesary milestone for mankind, and the US, and I don't think it's mutually exclusive of cleaning house.
I think the only thing we actually disagree on is when.
 
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Pfft. I'm personally looking at Saturn's moons.

But seriously, I am interested in space travel, just not with the current problems. The war, the economy, oil price, etc. Once those things cool down a bit, then I'll be more open to the idea of going further in space. Problem is this kind of stuff seems like to have extremely long term benefits (though the recent influx of scientific/technological advances posted on this forum make me thing otherwise at times).

I just don't want America to over-multi-task. And I also agree that there is still much left to learn about our own planet and our moon. Wake me up when we've terraformed Mars =X.
 
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do you know how many years it would take to get to mars? by the time you got to mars and back you would waste alot of years of your life its not like just going to the moon and nasa is over rated who even likes watching them launch a rocket into space that crap is boring going to space never did anything good for me
 
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I think it could bring us nothing but good things. I mean... it's bound to develop another spark of interest in people. That eventually leads to advancements in science and technology.
 

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