Conflicting Rationale Behind the VSE

Back to the Moon! But Why?, NY Times

“Why, if Mars is so fascinating, does NASA now have a fixation on the Moon? In last week’s first announcement, the agency said it would build a permanent international base, probably near one of the Moon’s poles, by 2024. In one of those twists that must make it fun to be the American starship commander these days, that is to say, the NASA administrator, the dual (one is tempted to say dueling) announcements underscored the disparity between these two visions of space adventure. On the one hand there is the Red Planet, home of mythical canals and yearning. Astrobiologists are dying to get their hands, or at least their robots, on it – oops, astrobiology research was slashed in the last NASA budget.”