Hopefully NASA gets on the right path again so it can focus on deep space research projects and focus less on local space.

Agreed. I am very sad to point out that budget cuts prevent NASA from being project oriented in seemingly many many different directions as it has been so inclined to do in the past. Now, NASA must pick and choose which projects to partake in and which ones to leave on the drawing board. NASA, IMO, must really sit back and consider what is most important when starting a project/funding a project. I would like to really see them work ferociously to get us into space/colonize another planet or moon, but realistically, there must be projects that precede that endeavor to produce the knowledge to get us to that point. Then there are politics both within the organization and without which hamper decision making and so-forth. Seeing the shuttles launch for the last time is heartbreaking, and I hope that there will be a new NASA-spawned vehicle in the near-ish future...assuming they have been steadily working on a design that is.

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It comes down to one word, redtape, redtape is hampering NASA's focus on space exploration.

This is good science, but that is not going to help humans colonize other planets