The engineering was done in the 70's and 80's. This rocket is built out of leftover shuttle hardware.

The exploration in this mission was done 50 years ago.

I fail to see how this mission is noble. It's biggest accomplishment is keeping the NASA beurocratic apparatus in tact.

This spectacle of a mission is precisely the kind of distraction which enables complacency and allows the "dark age of war" to remain dark.