>>NASA’s 2009 budget is about $18 billion. In 2009 alone the US will spend $600 billion on defense and homeland security.

:(

The future is NOW!

Europe are going to Mercury with our ion drive we invented

>>5784120
>ion drive

So what, 2185?

>>5784140

2010

Moon rocks are worth a fuckload and NASA has people dedicated to policing their trade and theft.

They probably don't want to go back there as they have a stash of these rocks and releasing a few to the market every year for millions while the chance of a return visit is low keeps the price healthy.

my mistake, 2013

http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/area/index.cfm?fareaid=30

Wait, wat happened?

Given the remaining Saturn Vs have been sitting out there as tourist attractions for thirty years or so, I'm fairly confident in saying they're not going to be of much use doing anything else.

But hooray short sighted politics. The space shuttle was only supposed to run for, what, 20 years? and they couldn't get funding from the government to actually start planning the replacement until there was no safe choice but to completely lack man-rated lifting capability for several years while they made sure that the new one wouldn't blow up. When I was 10, I thought I'd see honest to god space travel and living before I died, now I know it's just not going to happen.

>>5784268
Same here, bro. I grew up on scifi, loving NASA and space. Now I fucking know it isn't going to happen.

That doesn't mean I can't try, though. Working on an Aerospace Engineering degree, emphasis in Astronautics.

>>5784284
As much as I'd hate for it to happen, it seems like the only thing that would get the space program a significant boost in budget would be something like the Tunguska event happening near some major population centers.

The future is private.

And seemingly with awesome sideburns.