Rand Simberg wrote:
On 31 Aug 2006 18:18:10 -0700, in a place far, far away, "Rusty"
made the phosphor on my monitor glow in such
a way as to indicate that:

Here are lead times for previous U.S. manned spacecraft

Space Contract 1st manned
Craft Issued orbital flight Lead time

Mercury Feb 6, 1959 Feb 20, 1962 3 years 2 weeks

Gemini Dec 22, 1961 Mar 23, 1965 3 years - 3 months

Apollo CM Nov 28, 1961 Oct 11, 1968 6 years - 10-1/2 months

Apollo LM Jan 14, 1963 Mar 3, 1969 6 years - 1-1/2 months

Shuttle Jul 26, 1972 Apr 12, 1981 8 years - 8-1/2 months


Sources:

Mercury Chronology, Gemini Chronology, Apollo Chronology, KSC Shuttle
News Reference.

With a mandate to NASA to "waste anything but time."

Not comparable to any program today, since space is no longer
important.

Says you.
Just think what we could do if we didn't spend a $100 billion a year on
the war?
See:
http://nationalpriorities.org/index....per&Itemid=182

Tell me how many years it has taken NASA to spend $300 billion. Go
ahead, do it.

Eric