Do we really need another Apollo mission? (opens in new tab)

I would say NASA is woefully underfunded, especially compared to the seemingly infinite budget for national defense. The defense budget for the US for FY2009 was $515.4 BILLION (from Wikipedia) compared to NASA's FY2010 REQUEST for $18.686 BILLION (Official Press Release). To add a little more perspective, you can take just a couple of projects that the DoD works on and make it == NASA's ENTIRE budget!

Missile Defense - $8.8 Bil.

F-22 Raptor - $4.6 Bil.

V-22 Osprey - $2.6 Bil.

DDG 1000 Destroyer - $3.5 Bil.

This comes out to $19.5 BILLION! All of the projects listed above are in my opinion relics from the cold war arms race, combined with the military complex's deep hooks in government. Also, these are just the projects that we KNOW OF, how much money do you think all of the black projects take up?

If we took away these projects and gave most of the money to NASA (effectively doubling their budget), I think that we would see lots of great work and scientific achievements, along with a increase in patriotism.

On the topic of whether we should go back to the Moon, I believe that we should. I feel this way not because I think it would be cool, or even that me might learn some new things (we would), but mainly because it would be a stepping stone to Mars. We could use the Moon to build and launch our manned ships to Mars and other planets and their moons. We could also more safely store nuclear reactors and materials on the moon, allowing us to build advanced nuclear engines just like the 'mad scientists' dreamed up back in the olden days. If anything, the ISS has been a waste of time, I think we should have built an extensive base on the moon, instead of putting some tinker-toys together in orbit.