NASA's New Spaceship--Rocks, Paper, Scissors...

Check out the nice multimedia package NASA put together to showcase its next generation spaceship.
I've talked about it once before: basically, it's a suped up version of the Apollo system, using shuttle main engines and solid rocket boosters for lift. It has plenty of cool accessories too, like a lander for Moon missions which becomes a permanent living space that can remain on the surface.

The best part is where they say they'll be making two trips to the Moon every year. They also said they'd make twelve trips a year in the shuttle, so you have to take that with a grain of salt.
Just this week NASA head, Mike Griffin, told USA Today that he believes the shuttle and International Space Station were the wrong direction for NASA to go, and if the decision had been his, they would have gone in a different direction.
Of course that direction might have been just as wrong or even worse.

But there's no harm in a little armchair quarter-backing; Apollo program Space technology is fine. It's reliable, pretty simple to operate and build and something just about everyone who's interested in Space technology understands. There's nothing wrong with revisiting what works to get our Space program going again.
But the Shuttle wasn't a complete waste of time. We learned a lot about what we can and cannot do, yet, and what there is left to learn.
If anything we learned a lot about what we should not be doing when it comes to Space exploration. And I believe that's anything that isn't going to last.
The Shuttle has always been a novelty. It was, for a time, a successful novelty, but that time has long passed.
We shouldn't waste another dime on it, yes. But we should never abandon our penchant for trying to reach things that are beyond our grasp.
Never.