For all of the money we are spending, NASA should NOT be talking about going to the Moon - We did that 50 years ago. They should be focused on the much bigger things we are doing, including Mars (of which the Moon is a part), Defense and Science!
Going back to the moon, and actually setting up a base there, is really the obvious first step - and should have been done a
LONG time ago.
My feeling on the current state of space travel is that it's still unbelievably crude and expensive - sticking a tiny payload (including passengers) on top of a huge firework is horrible primitive.
We really need a
MUCH better way of getting in to space, the Space Shuttle 'could' have been such a system except it ended up been just another tiny payload on a big firework.
The Virgin Galactic solution looks a
MUCH more promising idea, getting the space vehicle high up, and travelling at a high speed, before launching it - and makes for a truely reusable system. Although I'm also pretty impressed that Elon Musk is actually landing and reusing his early rocket stages, but still just a giant firework and very inefficient.
How many of you remember the puppet series Fireball XL5 - they launched from earth along a railway track, sat on a rocket powered sled - the track curved up at the end (like a jump jet ramp on a carrier) and as the sled fell away at the end of the track the ships own engines were fired, so again you've got a good level of speed without expending your own fuel.