Selections from an Op-Ed Spacenews by Doctor Robert Zubrin

The whole Op-Ed was read into the congressional record to day and O'Keefe was ask his opinion of it. He described it as "wrong headed", what a surprise! The idea was not born at NASA...first mistake...let us just toss billions of dollars away...and continue this LEO thing till dooms day...

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"Convert the Shuttle"

It is now apparent that the Shuttle Orbiter cannot be used much
longer as a system for transporting crews to Earth orbit. The
Columbia disaster has made it clear that the antiquated Orbiters are
becoming increasingly unsafe. Moreover, even if the Orbiter could be
flown safely, it is clear that using a launch vehicle with a takeoff
thrust matching that of a Saturn V to transport half a dozen people
to the Space Station makes about as much sense as using an aircraft
carrier to tow water skiers. The Shuttle was designed as a self-
launching space station. Absent a permanent space station on-orbit,
such a vehicle had some justification. But with the establishment of
the ISS, the rationale for using a flying Winnebago as a space taxi
is no longer sustainable.

...

The reason why the Shuttle is such an inefficient launch system is
precisely because it is dragging around the huge inert mass of the
Orbiter. If we relieve the Shuttle launch system of that burden,
however, and replace the Orbiter with a simple cargo compartment, we
obtain the configuration known as Shuttle C, capable of lifting 70
tonnes to low Earth orbit. This compares quite handsomely with the
current STS 20 tonne payload capability. However, we can do still
better if we insert a hydrogen/oxygen upper stage into the payload
fairing. In that case, we obtain the Shuttle Z, analyzed by NASA and
the Martin Marietta company in the late 1980's, capable of launching
120 tonnes to Earth orbit or sending payloads in the 40 to 50 tonne
class on direct trajectories to the Moon or Mars.

...

If NASA makes the negative decision, and opts to discard the Shuttle
infrastructure instead of converting it, the agency will be making a
statement that it really never intends to do human exploration at any
time. Under such conditions, the public will inevitably question,
with considerable force of reason, what the remaining justification
is for the Space Station, the OSP, and human spaceflight in general.
The result will be an implosion of the entire manned space program.
NASA is in a box, and the only way out is forward.

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"I see this as a choice of creating another set of large lawn ornaments or moving out of the LEO loops."--Chris Vancil