By following the Russian experience with space stations, we see the only things they bring back intact are the cosmonauts and pictures and movies. All the rest was either left aboard the stations or destructed with the Progress vehicles.

Even though the Shuttles could return back huge masses, very few were the things made in weightlessness and sold or used on Earth.

I really can't see why the next US spacecrafts to go to space would be (almost) as expensive as the Shuttles . Obvioulsy, it's going to help NASA for other more exciting things.

I'd love to see a widespread debate about those issues: Robots-humans; Low earth orbit-the Moon-Mars....