Bush clutches for the Vision Thing. Some vision: we got to the moon in less than 10 years of effort. Thirty five years later, we think we can do it again in another 15 years. That’s ambition!

Of course, going to the moon will cost a lot more than the War on Terrorism. Where will the money come from? Corporate sponsors? ”The Coca-cola lander has just left the Fed-Ex Rocket on its way down to Ronald Raygun Spaceport.

Finally, no one has mentioned the inevitable truth with this President: this is a step towards militarizing space. How long before this President insists on nuclear weapons in space. Some vision. mjh

Beacon Journal | 01/15/2004 | John Glenn doesn’t think Bush’s space plan will fly By Bob Dyer, Beacon Journal

The first American to orbit the Earth thinks President Bush’s plan to build a permanent base on the moon and use it as a launching pad to Mars makes Bush look like a space cadet.

In a general sense, John Glenn loves the plan Bush unveiled Wednesday afternoon. But Glenn thinks the president’s cost projections are so far off target as to be nearly weightless. …

Bush wants to complete the space station within six years. But Glenn fears plans for the operation of the finished station will be slaughtered if $11 billion of NASA’s $15 billion annual budget is raided for use exclusively on this new plan. …

The Democrat is flabbergasted by that promise. “You’re not going to run a moon or a Mars program on $11 billion reprogrammed from the NASA budget. That will pay for the blueprint paper.” …

From 1903 to 1969, humans went from not flying at all to landing on the moon. That’s 66 years. Since then, 35 years have passed and we haven’t gone any farther.