No PARFing please, space exploration should not be a political subject.
I figured it would directly impact a few of you.
In a nutshell, Congress commissioned a group to examine the viability of NASA's future plans, including the Moon missions.
They determined that NASA is financially unsound, and that they need to drop major projects. I quote:
"The U.S. human spaceflight program appears to be on an unsustainable trajectory. It is perpetuating the perilous practice of pursuing goals that do not match allocated resources. Space operations are among the most complex and unforgiving pursuits ever undertaken by humans. It really is rocket science. Space operations become all the more difficult when means do not match aspirations. Such is the case today."
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=32327
Ouch.
They also state that we cannot go beyond low Earth orbit in the foreseeable future without having an extra $3 billion per year allocated to NASA (yes, $10 per American per year will prevent us from going back to the Moon).
Does this directly affect any of you (NASA itself, NASA contractors, etc)? Would you be willing to pay an extra $10 per family member per year to put men (American) back on the Moon by 2020? Would you rather not spend the money, but hope that another country gets there first? Or, would you rather support something like Space-X, the private company that is targeting space travel?