Had nowhere to go.

I suspect that the real reason Apollo was killed in the manner in which it was, involved a risk vs. reward assessment.

Could it be that Apollo was much riskier than the public realized or was made to believe at the time, and once the goal of landing a man on the moon had been achieved, the politicos decided why risk destroying that legacy of success by taking the chance that there would be a catastrophic mission loss. I think one of the reasons NASA is so hesitant to try to go back to this day is this very fear of failure...The success in the late 60's made them and now makes them even more afraid of failure!

What if in the year 2010 while trying to land on the moon for the 1st time in 40+ years NASA had a mission failure where the Apollo program did not! Can you imagine the political fall-out?

Lets face it. NASA is too risk adverse to ever make it back to the Moon. The only way back is if the Russians or Chineese push the limit and take the risk. They have everything to gain. NASA won't go back because NASA has everything to lose.

Scott