[StockAyatollah]

I really getting sick of this "reach for the stars" BS. Its time to dump the glorified space truck which has now killed 14 valuable, brilliant people. Or maybe I should say they were murdered by bureaucracy. Manned space flight is a waste of resources. There is no compelling reason to continue doing it other than to promote self-serving politicians like Sens. Bill Nelson or John Glenn. We should eliminate NASA entirely and put all federal space-related activities under the DoD. The only Constitutionally authorized role of the federal government in space research is for military applications. Teacher in Space, Politician in Space, First in Space, enough already!

[College Repub]

I agree

[Junior]

Dear Lord! It's dangerous! Stop anything dangerous now! With an attitude like that, we'd still be living in caves. If you want to cower at the bottom of a gravity well, that's your problem. God gave us a universe to explore, and dammit, we are going to do just that. And while we are conquering space, you can sit back in your comfortable little chair and harp all you want, because we won't be listening.

[Cold Heat]

glorified space truck which has now killed 14 valuable, brilliant people.

Those valuable and brilliant people were engaged in a dream that you do not share.

So stay the hell out of their way!

[hopespringseternal]

Its time to dump the glorified space truck which has now killed 14 valuable, brilliant people.

"To which a considered response might be: go paint it on the wall of your cave. "

How many valuable, brilliant people were killed in how many other varied ways? Some of you guys are just plain nuts, or entirely intellectually dishonest.

Ever hear of the Louisiana Purchase or Louis and Clark?

The problem with manned space isn't intrinsic. It has been mired in bureaucracy and faced with severe congressional mismanagement. If you want to know why the space program languishes in irrelevency, look no further than your congressman. He hands billions to NASA, but offers no real oversight or interest in where that money is going. In fact, his main requirement of NASA is that it not attract attention, lest Dan Rather accuse him of squandering AIDS research money or stealing milk from babies.

[steve-b]