NASA May Unveil New Manned Moon Missions Soon
A base at L2 is interesting. However, I have a fundamental problem with these plans: timeframe. JFK's moon speech was so memorable, and the policy it implemented so successful <i>because it was aimed to be done while JFK was still in office</i> (well, pretty close). Obama and NASA targeting a Mars landing by the time Obama is nearly dying of old age...well, it's not inspiring. It's also not likely to stay on track for so many decades. "By the decade is out" -> "When I'm 78 and elderly"<p>I am also nervous about the continued approach of establishing bases to "learn more about supporting humans in deep space". The ISS did this for not-deep space, and it trapped us in. It was so expensive that it prevented further exploration.<p>I would suggest that we should not establish small expensive bases to learn more. Unless the bases are intended to become permanent <i>colonies</i>, which I think would be an excellent move. I realize this starts to sound expensive, but start with a small but expandable design. Like scaling a web start up.