Paul Spudis

Asks: Can we afford to return to the Moon?  Hmm.  It all depends.  How much will it cost?  Will the money be available?  If it is at all possible, then I am all for it.  Shoot, I'd be for it even if it wasn't feasible.  I'd try to find a way to make it feasible.

He also has a full write up in a pdf file.  I am reading it now.

Update:
My prose looks like I drank a little too much eggnog.  All fixed now.  Hic.  'Scuse me.

Update:

An idea occurred to me.  Could it be possible to include in this package a way to recycle those ET's and make a space station?  It seems that somewhere I read that there wouldn't be a necessity for a fully fueled ET for the two launch mission to the Moon.  One launch isn't enough to get all the hardware up there, but two was too much.  There was an excess capacity, if I recall.  Is there a way to use that excess capacity to save a few of those tanks?

Update:

3/2/11 approx. 4 am, cst

This was a long pause, but it is necessary to update this a bit since I've gone out on the limb on my Facebook page and said getting back to the moon doesn't have to hard and expensive.  That was me, who may not be believable, but this guy may be. That would be Rand Simberg who writes the blog Transterrestrial Musings.
I'm going to put this post on the sidebar.  Anybody interested in reading the thread through can find a link to Paul Spudis' moonbase concept on Rand's post linked just above.