Robert Zubrin on NASA's Irrational Approach to Risk

Starting with near zero space capability in 1961, NASA put men on the moon in eight years. Yet despite vastly superior technology and hundreds of billions of dollars in subsequent spending, the agency has been unable to send anyone else farther than low Earth orbit ever since. Why? Because we insist that our astronauts be as safe as possible. Robert Zurin agrees that keeping astronauts safe merits significant expenditure. But how much?