Well, time will tell... In my more pessimistic moments, I sometimes think that that's it as far as the great days of manned spaceflight are concerned. It's true that it's horrendously expensive - most of the money and technical difficulties experiences over the years relate to a) getting people up there alive, b) keeping them alive while they're up there and c) bringing them back down alive. With unmanned probes, you have none of that sort of hassle, and as technology advances, unmanned probes can do practically all of the things that a manned expedition could do (apart from, like, repairing themselves if they develop a minor mechanical fault, of course ;D), at a fraction of the cost and risk.

However... Without wanting to sound like some sort of dreamer, what's the point in only doing things that are practical and safe? It's not as if the governments of the world are ever spontaneously going to decide to spend their billions on ending world poverty and hunger, so they may as well spend some of what they'd only blow on more wars or nuclear weapons or whatever on doing something that will inspire people and make their lives a bit brighter. Sure, most of the big achievements in spaceflight during the 60s were done for the basest of political reasons, yet somehow they ended up being positive and poetic and inspiring almost in spite of themselves. I think it's good for the soul or whatever to hear tales of daring pioneers achieving amazing things at great risk and pushing the bleeding edge of technology. Or is that just me? ;D

Thanks for the link. It makes interesting reading. It's sad, if understandable, that the current US govt has severely cut back the Bush administration's grandiose Moon-by-2020 plans (if you can call them plans), not that they could justify going ahead with it in the current economic climate probably. So, we're waiting on China to do something amazing, then... :D