It seems to me a shuttle replacement and manned Mars mission plannning should dovetail. I think the shuttle should be replaced by a real heavy lifter for cargo and a spaceplane for crew. Both could be used for a manned Missions to Mars or the Moon. Many have claimed the shuttle is a poor and inefficient compromise because it was given too many conflicting tasks.
I'm not sure of the ISS numbers, but I thought it was around 6 billion a year with more than half that being construction costs. Spending only half on O&M would free up enough for out of LEO operations. Perhaps someone can provide the actual budgets for shuttle operation and ISS construction last year and in the next budget. A breakdown on ISS costs to provide insight into future O&M costs would be appreciated.
I certainly agree NASA needs better cost control, but that does seem to be a major goal of the current administration.
Regards,
Mark
Space/Science » in reply to I'm really skeptical of that projected cost
Dovetailing & Costs