NASA's budget is less than half a percent of the US federal budget, it's a drop in the ocean, and the money they do get has been largely squandered for 15 years developing a rocket that will be obsolete by the time it leaves the pad. The whole moon mission was conceived, constructed and achieved in only 10 years. By comparison, the US spends over $620 billion on the military to NASA's $20 billion. In fact in 2011, America spent more on air conditioning for their troops than NASA's entire budget. Unfortunately there just isn't the public or political support for NASA that there once was and now that there are emerging innovative launch companies like SpaceX, perhaps it's time for NASA to get out of the launch game altogether and concentrate on payloads and habitats.
