re: Space.com link
I've long championed here and elsewhere a NEO as the next manned spaceflight target. Much better mission than return to the moon.
We'd get better human on site science, a great sense of adventure for the jaded public whose reaction to moon flights ans Shuttle/ISS missions "been there, done that" and a doable task utilizing ISS experience and possible upgraded infrastructure from SpaceHab or modified ISS module technology. NEO exploration also plays to humanity's survival. We gots to learn lots more about the pesky suckas.