Artemis II marked the first crewed moon mission in more than 50 years, in which we traveled farther from Earth than ever before and got our first look with the naked eye at parts of our natural satellite's far side. 

The trip was a prelude to what NASA says will be a moon landing by 2028 and then a constantly inhabited lunar base. 

All of this will cost billions of dollars. And it will give us access to hundreds of billions of dollars in untapped resources, such as rare elements, scientists say.

The question is: Is it all worth it? Both to the taxpayers and to the astronauts taking the risk?

For opinions on that, we turned to you, our USA TODAY readers. Your answers ranged from serious skepticism of the costly program to excitement over our continued exploration.

Here's a sampling of what you said below in our latest installment of Forum. Look for more opportunities to weigh in at usatoday.com/forum, leave us a voicemail at (202) 655-3923 or drop us a note at forum@usatoday.com.

Space exploration is a better use of public dollars than many things

The Artemis II mission is amazing and awe-inspiring. I've been following the Artemis program since it started and eagerly await the next missions. These missions represent the best things humanity has ever done.

Space exploration is a better use of public money than anything else our government spends. We waste trillions of dollars on welfare and fraud and bombs, when we could be exploring the cosmos and moving humanity forward. NASA's budget should be several times larger.

Both NASA and private companies have a role here. NASA is great at funding large........

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