Space buffs and Mars-direct boosters have been understandably dismayed at the latest exploration scheme to emanate from the ninth floor of NASA headquarters―understandably but unnecessarily. The NASA Exploration Team (NEXT, in the inevitable acronym) has come up with a plan to buy exploration "by the yard," starting at the libration point between the Earth and the Moon and gradually moving outward. No bold excursions to Mars or a return to the moon for the NEXT bunch. NASA management wants a step-by-step approach that will allow humankind to expand its reach incrementally, unlimited by a single destination.
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