I would submit that manned missions are over rated and robotic missions underrated. Robotic missions are far cheaper, can go way further in space and can do outstanding science. Robots are the future. Sincerely, Gary Vardon -----Original Message----- From: Robert Taylor Sent: Tuesday, September 30, 2008 7:01 PM To: utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com Subject: [Utah-astronomy] NASA Lost the Right Stuff? The Hubble is down, the Shuttles are due to retire and we'll be hitching rides from the Russians to get to the IIS that the US taxpayer has had to primarily pick up the tab for. We are years away from getting back the Moon, something we did almost 40 years ago and have not been able to repeat and are no where near close to doing again. When we get there we'll likely be greeted by the Chinese, Indians and Japanese. The Orion spacecraft is also years away and may not ever get fully funded. There have been a few robotic successes but they don't really capture the imagination of most people. So, has NASA lost it? Will it ever be anything like it once was? What do we see as the future of this once great agency that is decline? NASA seems to have become a mature Bureaucracy, it has become primarily a jobs program and a drain on the tax payers, no real accomplishments, no real plans, a very uncertain future. I saw this article in USA Today. Unfortunately I agree with the http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/space/2008-09-30-nasa-analysis_N.htm Like so many thing these days, how do we fix NASA? Robert Taylor _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Visit the Photo Gallery: http://gallery.utahastronomy.com Visit the Wiki: http://www.utahastronomy.com