Russia Seeks Co-operative Moon Base Direction With N.A.S.A.

Russia-a pioneer in manned space flight-is interested in developing manned moon bases for scientific research with N.A.S.A. The goal is pragmatic, since experience living on the moon would prep the human race for visiting and living on the other moons of the solar system.

http://www.space.com/14290-russia-manned-moon-base-nasa-europe.html

The Russians may be disappointed by the now traditional lethargic U.S. approach to manned space flight that has become set aside and buried under and avalanche of bureaucratic priorities servicing a Wall Street sector concerned with extracting profits from existing business instead of manufacturing or constructing new physical projects.

One hopes that the next U.S. administration will have a change of spirit and co-operate in developing a fleet of new space-transportation modalities of an economic and pragmatic nature with Russia as well as the private sector.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/05/12/emals_backfire/ U.S. Navy works on electro-magnetic mass drivers for launching carrier aircraft

http://www.cyberpursuits.com/space/engineering/massdrivers.asp mass drivers and electro-magnetic launch technology for space