President Nixon’s White House task force on the future of the space program will submit its recommendations next month. Meantime, others are offering the President no end of advice. Vice President Agnew, NASA officials and many space boosters in private industry have been beating the drums for a spectacular $2.3 billion increase in NASA’s current annual budget of $3.7 billion. They would use most of the new funds to land men on Mars by the early 1980s — a project that could eventually cost between $60 and $100 billion. Critics reply that a manned voyage to Mars, which Mariner 6 and 7 have indicated might be barren and lifeless, would be a useless stunt and that instead we should use the money to solve problems here on earth.” – Life Magazine , August 22, 1969
The fact is, we haven’t been to the moon in forty years.
See also: Legacy magazine advises us all to prepare for the Mars rover apocalypse