And for purely geopolitical reasons. I happen to think they were valid nonetheless. But the Apollo program *was* politics. We had something we needed to prove to the world at the time, and we proved it.

Going to the moon was a big deal because it hadn't been done before. But that only works once. Apollo XII was a yawner.

Maybe we need something, but this isn't it. We need something that hasn't already been done to death. And no, combining Apollo with Mir isn't it. That's Holloywood thinking. "Think the Apollo moon program plus the Mir space station! We'll call it.... Moonbase! And everybody wears bell bottoms and has staple guns that shoot death rays! And there's this HUGE explosion, and the moon is catapulted out of the solar system!!!"

And if it looks like it's in response to Red China barely beginning to catch up to us, then we'll look really insecure. If they ever get to the moon, they'll find the American flag already there. We have absolutely nothing to prove anymore regarding the moon. But we have something to prove elsewhere:

The only valid response to Red China - and others - is a working, deployed missile defense. Second, because it addresses the strategic issue here. It will cut through many Gordian knots, particularly with North Korea. Plus, stop giving them our technology and our capital. Oh, and more unmanned space exploration would be nice.