Just my 22.5 cents worth (2 cents adusted for inflation): The ISS is a wonderful program, no doubt. But as long as priorities are centered on ISS support, it'll be another 10 to 15 years before we'll be anywhere near leaving LEO again, and in fact this is roughly the timeframe of Dubya's proposal to return to the moon. (notice I didn't use the "B" word)

I'm reminded of an anecdote I read once regarding Charles Lindbergh and the backers of his transatlantic flight. After several attempts by others to cross the Atlantic had failed, the backers were getting cold feet. They told Lindbergh in words to the effect that "maybe we just can't do it now". Lindy shot back that it needed to be tried...now. Again and again if needed until the task is completed.

Nothing dulls the mind like routine. We've been doing LEO stuff since Reagan's first term and it seems to me anyway that that's as far as NASA is used to thinking when it comes to manned missions. At the very least we need to start planning now for lunar missions starting in the middle of the next decade. What kind and level of technology will be involved? What type of launch vehicles will be needed? (Saturn V revisited? :wink: ) Can we go it alone or will international partnerships be required? And a big one in my estimation: How can the public interest and political will be stimulated for such a project the way that Mercury/Gemini/Apollo inspired the nation in the 60's? There are other issues to be resolved I'm sure but if we're gonna do this we need to start doing something about it...and soon.