Just a thought – maybe the reason that we (Space Exploration Enthusiasts) have such a hard time convincing others of the true value of the exploration is that we are so reasonable. When someone asks “Wouldn’t the money be better spent on …..” we sit back and give a thoughtful response sometimes conceding to the partial validity of the other’s point. We don’t have the blind emotional fervor of most activists that simply refer to people who disagree with them as dumb or ignorant.

Back to an earlier part of this discussion – failed missions – I can’t recall any of the U.S. inter-planetary missions of the 60’s and 70’s failing esp. the ones to Mars. I believe the USSR even had their Mars missions succeed but I could be wrong. It goes right to the fact that you cannot do all three of the “faster, cheaper, better” at the same time – the point is that in the early U.S. programs we only strived for better!

If we did have missions that failed I’d be interested in reading about them if for no other reason to fill in memory gaps.