Today, anyone with an average computer and an internet connection can go to the Moon or even Mars thorough Google Earth...
What happened to the manned space program in the last 40 years? We visited the Moon a couple of more times, docked a Russian space craft with an American one and put up Skylab, Mir, the ISS and various other space stations, and were generally stuck in lower-Earth orbit for 4 decades. Tsk Tsk Humans!
All this while the human race achieved immense leaps in the fields of computing, robotics and other sciences needed to make a journey possible... We created the shuttle, a spacecraft with unmatched capabilities, but never really used it to it's full potential. We sent dozens of very successful unmanned missions around the solar system (and in the case of Voyager, beyond the solar system as well!) and as I mentioned before, even a bored teenager sitting in front of a computer has more knowledge about Mars than NASA ever had of the Moon before the start of the Apollo program...
So what has kept our feet grounded on this matter? Is it Environmental concerns? I don't think so, coz every day millions of people start their day by polluting the environment with their car engines... Is it safety concerns? not really! (although there's a possibility that a solar flare can fry the astronauts like omelets inside the spacecraft... hik hik) Is it a lack of technology? Most certainly not!
So what's basically keeping us from Mars is the lack of political will, and a president who's willing to put his money where his mouth is... Our generation certainly needs a bold Kennedy, and till that day comes, we'll all have to do with Google Earth!
note: any comments suggesting that the Moon landing was a hoax will be given the Patented Buzz Aldrin Conspiracy Theorist Treatment! lol ;)
