The blog called Space KSC has a good historical treatise on what got us to the current situation in the Space Program. The included video from C-SPAN in January 2004 lets you know that the problems in the VSE were inherent from the get-go, and are squarely associated with those who came up with the concept. The thought that raiding (and cancelling) many worthy science programs at NASA in order to fund the return to the moon was flawed.
I wish, like many others, that we were on a solid path back to the moon. But the Ares I was not the answer, and we sure could use some of those cancelled spacecraft right now -- especially those associated with climate science.
I do want to see the Lockheed Martin Orion used to its fullest extent as a deep space human spaceflight vehicle. It is designed as such, and should be exercised. So now the trick is getting it to flight test as soon as practical, and on a Delta IV Heavy. Leadership is required to make this happen....
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