NASA Reconsiders Its Moon Plans

[anon]

Next year, 33 years after its maiden flight, the space shuttle will retire. What happens after that has become subject to fierce debate within the space agency. The designated successor program, named Constellation, was the darling of previous NASA administrator Michael Griffin, but a new review now has the space agency looking elsewhere for a ride back into the firmament.

The centerpiece of the Constellation program was the Ares rocket. However, that rocket needs billions of dollars more in funding to reach operational status, and has been plagued by numerous engineering problems. Now, some are proposing an alternative rocket system that makes use of already existing shuttle parts.

NASA Reconsiders Its Moon Plans | Popular Science

[slikrapid]

The drawback to the new plan is that the rockets would not be able to reach any point beyond low Earth orbit. That means NASA would still need to develop additional rockets to reach anything beyond the International Space Station, like, say, the Moon or Mars.

so this plan just appears to need less financial support - the key is in the added costs for longer distances

don't you think these billion amounts every year or so are somewhat too big compared to the results gained?