I think all the respondents to this have made some pretty good points, but there's still no way I can see why it needs to be practically twenty years at the earliest before we return to the moon. Surely there has to be a little more to this plan than what the article contains. I mean, if they think this would capture the imagination of the American public, they're dreaming. Moreover, I thought the whole motivation behind this reevaluation of the space program was the perception that Nasa needed a well defined goal. I don't really see that with this plan. After all, they're not even talking about anything all that exciting or ambitious for the Moon. If they want to develop all these new capabilities, then what are they developing them for?