That is, the Orion shuttle intended to take us back to the Moon but since reduced to the Space Stations escape pod. The JSC always makes my feet hurt, and has become a lot more expensive since I was a kid (because the feds privatized its tourism) but would be at least as useful logistically and far more enjoyable nostalgically.

Last I heard from Kennedy, admittedly a while back, was Obama dropping by to end Americas manned space exploration, a fact not lost on most media despite concealment in his rosy optimistic prose. When I asked aero about it here a few months ago he gave me no reason to believe that has changed (just the opposite.) Barring an emergency Space Station evacuation, the only manned US space presence in the foreseeable future will be through private commercial sources and/or whatever foreign allies give us a ride. That is ironic given that a few years ago all the talk was about the US making money launching other nations satellites.

Thus the spectacle of NASA soliciting applicants to test food for a Mars mission without even the means to reach LEO is pathetic. Even if I bought into the idea the SLS is the next Apollo Program, its first manned flights would not be until 2019. Or 2021; it depends on whether we accept the preliminary NASA schedule that projects a manned lunar orbit in 2019 or the one that does not even plan manned test flights until 2021. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Launch_System

The US public lost its desire to spend billions on space around the time we were born, and did not face a $15 trillion debt then. We have NO idea how to even begin going about a manned Mars mission, but it is not in the budget even if we did. This announcement is less serious preparation for a manned Mars mission "some time a generation from now" than an attempt to convince people they "should plan a visit to Kennedy" and spend the corresponding cash.

Speaking of Kennedy, this line from Obamas speech is very revealing: "And despite some reports to the contrary, my plan will add more than 2,500 jobs along the Space Coast in the next two years compared to the plan under the previous administration." That was April 2010; since then, Kennedy alone has lost 6000 jobs, according to Florida Today (I found the link at Wikipedia, but reading more than article abstracts requires a payment to the newspaper: http://search.floridatoday.com/sp?aff=1100&skin=&keywords=Laid-off%20KSC%20workers')

One must read the fine print in ANY politicians promise (in this case, slashing less jobs than he claims Bush intended.) This one is the same old Obama BS: Smile into the camera while intoning upbeat grandiose goals unbacked by a smidgen of policy, then "hope" charisma distracts from ACTUAL policy "changing" his pledge.