Marcia wrote:
I'm glad those that were in charge of those missions then, didn't wait (for nuclear propulsion because we would not have gone anywere in our lifetimes).

Alex writes:
There's an old, old adage that fits: "The perfect is the enemy of the good." Frankly, we can always sit around and conjure up advanced ways of doing things that do not yet exist. Carried to its logical conclusion, one could also ask why don't we just wait for antimatter warp drives and phasers? The New Frontiers nuclear technology initiative is just a backhanded way of killing off a mission that NASA and the previous and current Administrations have been hostile to all along, not to mention throwing some R&D work to NASA Glenn, which has been targeted for force reductions.

Alex R. Blackwell
University of Hawaii