I think Aldrin's right, we're not ready, and the main reason we're not ready is that SO many people just don't think space exporation is important enough to be a national or international priority. Given the needs of medical research and education, and issues like poverty, maybe they're right.

Of course I'd hate to see space exploration abandoned completely, but if we're striving for a balanced approach in all things, perhaps trying to put people on the moon and Mars is just not in the cards for the forseeable future.

I agree with Bowser that in very large measure, the reason for Apollo was to stroke the US ego, and one that was done, it was done. Flights 12 - 17 were driven mostly by simply momentum, imho. A big machine like that takes time to stop.

And if I'm not mistaken, Bowser has touched on the "dollars and sense" of using robotics vs sending people, as does Hank. One has to admit that, even with the failures, robots have been doing a spectacular job, and they're only going to get better.

Maybe the real virtue of the VSE will be that it allowed us to replace the shuttle with (hopefully) more reliable equipment. But as for returning to the moon and going to Mars...maybe we're just not ready, for a lot of reasons.