14 DAY TRIAL // This is the third article related to the priority of the Moon over Mars and vice versa, as the next target of the space program. First, it was clear that the Moon would provide a good place to start, since it's the closest and more accessible cosmic body that we can get to, and could also give astronauts a better insight on what space travel or remote colonies would imply in the long run. Then, there was the Planetary Society's Beyond the Moon: A New Roadmap for Human Space Exploration in the 21st Century report which stressed that Mars and the near-Earth asteroids would provide better targets.
But it seems that the dispute is far from being settled. It even escalated up to a point where it determined Senator Jack Smith, a former Apollo 17 moonwalker, to step down from his position at the Society over the disagreements related to the report. After quitting, Smith sent his former colleagues and some members of the media an elaborated response including a list of reasons for which the Moon should still be regarded as the next objective in the humans' space exploration effort.
In order to read the Society's report, go here, and for a full list of Smith's Moon-oriented reasons, as well as for the answer of the Planetary Society, visit this site (reading both is highly recommended to make your own opinion on the matter). To keep this short, Senator Smith stated that, although most of the Society's members are his friends, he cannot agree with them on this issue and needs to part ways. He sees the ideas and decisions stipulated in the report as political and failing, while also affecting the US' position as world leader in the space race.
"I see that the Society has gone back to its roots on 'international cooperation.' If that phrase means 'international management' of the critical path items in a Mars Program, then you clearly do not want to go to Mars. Nothing will prevent success with more certainty than to try this," states the Senator. He then indicates that the rest of the world may want a "one-nation, one vote" management type "for which history shows only a record of abject failure," as Space reveals.