sorry Daniel..i should have clarified where the moon was concerned. i didn't intend to compare it in such a fashion to an asteroid.
indeed ..i myself am utterly fascinated with the moon.i have nothing but an old 40x spotters scope from my fathers old sniper/field gear to look at it with. but even that offers some magnificent views. needless to say i break it out every chance i get and when i do i never fail to think.."wow. we have been there. we have been on its' suface and looked back on our world".
i was barely 6 months old when Armstrong set foot on the moon.my father set me down in front of the T.V. just so i could say that i saw it even though i don't remember it.
i was glued to the t.V. when the first pictures from the last rover mission were broadcast on the news. right then i knew what my father felt in '69 watching Armstrong and yet i still watched with the wonder of a child. and now once more i watch and read with the fascination of a child who is about to have something wondrous revealed to him.
just as with the moon..these are the first steps.as long as there are dreamers like ourselves here at the zone and at NASA and in Britain and in Japan....etc.....we will continue to see these wondrous things.there will be failures. but its made only that much more worth it when the one out of several succeeds.