Bill In U.S. House Plans Manned Mars Mission

maddogsparky writes "Spaceref.com has a copy of a bill laying out a roadmap for NASA to send a manned mission to Mars by 2022. Highlights include an manned asteroid landing, building a research outpost on one of Mars' moons and actually providing funds to start mission planning."

Shotgun

[ManDude]

I call shotgun!

10 Bucks...

[Mrdzone]

Who wants to bet that on the end of this bill some idiot is going to add a clause that all our web traffic has to be monitored. I can see it now "We are finally going to mars better make sure we konw what people are talking about online."

uh oh...

[Anonymous Coward]

Research bases on Mars' moons, are they crazy? Haven't they played Doom!?

If we donate money....

[neuroticia]

If we donate money can we maybe send off a few of the slashdot trolls on the space shuttle? I think Mars would suit them well.

Re:Twenty years away?!

[Servo5678]

So, um, can we maybe pretend there's a competitive nation and get on with it?!

And in other news, the president announced today that members of Al Qaeda have been spotted on Mars. "We're going to find them and smoke them out of their canals," the president said.

how much?

[Profe55or Booty]

how much do you think it'll cost for some billionare to get a ride on this?

We need Reagan back!

[Nathdot]

We need Reagan back.

Then we could collect the whole fucking set:

* The "Star Wars" laser defence system
* A space-station on Mars
* Maybe a fleet of "nuclear class" space ships

Sometimes creativity is also a by-product of degenerative brain disease. How often we overlook that.

:)

If men are from Mars...

[thumbtack]

shouldn't we be planning a mission to Venus instead?

Bah! It'll Never Happen

[istartedi]

Not enough votes on Mars.

No farmers, no steelworkers, no Cuban immigrants, no nothin'. It ain't a key "swing planet", it has no electoral votes, no representation, no key industries, and it isn't even a decent vacation spot.

What we need is a lobby. First make land grants on Mars. Slip it in as a rider on some military spending bill. Then, we can start complaining about how transportation is lousy there; maybe divert some funds from Amtrak, grease a few palms here and there. The first rocket needs to be loaded with representatives for welfare mothers, schoolchildren, teachers, steelworkers, farmers, union members, and other key constituency groups who know how to lobby. The scientists can come later.

If the rocket makes it we'll get one helluva Mars lobby. If it blows up, that'll be fine too. It's a win-win situation.

Hey, don't blame me. You were the ones who brought Congress into the picture.

Re:Shotgun

[LadyLucky]

Gaper.

You can't call shotgun if you haven't seen the vehicle. I call Gaper on you, nullifying your shotgun call.