HESTIA is in Duna orbit. Eight kerbals. Fifty-eight days of transit, now complete. The propulsion system is classified. The launch sequence - which we will summarize because nobody else will - involved three failed BelugaX flights, one lost Unity vehicle, an EVA into a falling cargo bay, and two crew launches on a vehicle that had a 25% success rate until its fourth attempt. This is what your tax funds paid for.
We do not have HESTIA's cost figure. NASA does not publish cost figures. We have submitted a Freedom of Information request. We have received a PDF titled "Budgetary Overview: Interplanetary Program Phase 1" which contains 43 pages and zero numbers. We are not making this up. Forty-three pages. No numbers. We read all of them. There is a section called "Resource Allocation Framework" that uses the word "synergy" nine times.
Meanwhile: the Dricken Valley road survey documented 34 potholes in a 4.2 kilometre section. Council motion KV-2241 to fund repairs was defeated. The HESTIA program launched eight kerbals to another planet on a vehicle with a classified propulsion system. The pothole is still there. Gerald is still there. The road budget is still zero.
KFD's position remains consistent: we are not opposed to space. We are opposed to space instead of roads. Fill the hole. Then go to Duna. Is that so hard.