I'm glad that there's a positive reaction to this, rather than "THIS IS MY TAX DOLLARS GOOFING OFF DURR HURR"
It's been a while since america has seemed to care about space travel, although it's as important now as it ever was, and with recent advances in medical, technological and social improvements, more eyes should be turned skyward than ever. Sorry to say that the earth's resources are quickly being used up, and no matter how you look at it, we have all our eggs in one basket. It's a shame the space race fizzled out and turned into the involved countries building stockpiles of nuclear weapons instead of using that manufacturing capabilities for a more meaningful purpose.