Amen Marv and Jon! No body but those that have had boots on the ground understands the real costs of R&D let alone something as cutting edge (had to be invented) technology, under incredibly difficult design parameters as the LEM and the NASA programs in general.

If you just take two small pieces like the AGC (Apollo Guidance Computer) and LVDC (Launch Vehicle Guidance Computer) and dive into the rabbit hole you will find incredible (ginormous) hurdles of technology that had to be invented just to get the LEM up there. The DSKY (Display/Keyboard) can barely be replicated today and should dispel any myths of the human-years (previously known as Man-Years) it took to meet its demands of design, manufacture and testing.

I had the pleasure of taking my nephew to the Exploratorium for the live Podcast of the Mars Rover. As cool as that was for me for my background and understanding of what that took, my nephew had more fun playing remote control with the one they had set up...maybe one day he will get a piece of the intricacies of it and the awesome achievement of it. The media were there and they were more interested in filming the kids...as it should be I guess.

As for the Vehicle, YUP I want one too, almost as cool as Drift Trikes. I can pass on the lotus because my feet are too big to work the pedals, but the gal could drive me along the french countryside for a tour. ;-P I agree about Citroen, worked on them & drove them...I can now see where Pellenc came from with their vineyard machines...maybe the vineyard machines were a prototype for the Citroen...sadly similar but interesting technologies.