re: Mars Direct Question
Doug, that's exactly what I'm worried about!
Going to the Moon didn't prevent NASA from going to Venus, Mars, Jupiter or building astronomy telescopes or other satellites not Moon related. And a space station called Skylab.
But going to Mars might mobilize not more than 4 astronauts every 2 years.
Actually, that's also what happened during the early 70's (well, 6 astronauts per year, then)
Raoul