is this part of the reason

some are squawking about spending some dinero on helping OUR UNITED STATES CITIZENS OF THE GULF REGION REGAIN THEIR FOOTING? you know, i'm not sure how i feel about space exploration (i DO love star trek though. any sci fi for that matter). we have polluted OUR planet now we have to leave our crap in space? NO

NASA to unveil plans for 2018 moon mission By Brian Berger, Space.com
WASHINGTON — NASA briefed senior White House officials Wednesday on its plan to spend $100 billion and the next 12 years building the spacecraft and rockets it needs to put humans back on the moon by 2018.

The U.S. space agency now expects to roll out its lunar exploration plan to key Congressional committees on Friday and to the broader public through a news conference on Monday, Washington sources tell Space.com.
President George W. Bush called in January 2004 for the United States to return to the moon by 2020 as the first major step in a broader space exploration vision aimed at extending the human presence throughout the solar system.
NASA has been working intensely since April on an exploration plan that entails building an 18-foot (5.5-meter) blunt body crew capsule and launchers built from major space shuttle components, including the main engines, solid rocket boosters and massive external fuel tanks.........