Does it make sense for the U.S. to expend hundreds of billions of dollars to mount a new Apollo-style program to return to the moon? Or have we blazed that trail? Shouldn't we help other nations achieve this goal with their own resources but with our help?

As someone who flew two space capsules and twice landed in the ocean, I can attest from personal experience how much logistics work is needed to get you home.

Mars is there, waiting to be reached.

There were about six years when there was not one American who went into space. We shouldn't do that again.

My expertise is the space program and what it should be in the future based on my experience of looking at the transitions that we've made between pre-Sputnik days and getting to the moon.

Astronauts are not superhuman. They lead ordinary lives and have varied personalities.

If you want poets in space, you'll have to wait.