Understandably, those of us who are interested in space advocate for every project which comes along. We want the ISS, more Mars Rovers, preferably driven by men, a Moon colony, missions to all planets and most of the major moons, as well as asteroids and comets. While we can make superb cases for each and every one of those, the general public would rather keep its 10 or 19 cents a day.

When the ISS was proposed it was at the intersection of space and politics, an effort to outdo the Evil Empire and seemed sexy and prestigous. We were warned a lot of other missions wouldn't happen and I don't think we believed it. We were going to make MIR look like a trailer in a Mississippi park no matter the cost. (And then the Russians de-orbited MIR and bought into the ISS, much the way people are buying condos from distressed developers.)

We can't have it all, and in my opinion we haven't always chosen wisely. And now comes the time to pay the price.

(And let's not forget Spirit and Opportunity. NASA did it right!)