The following appeared in Fox News:

>Pro-space optimists had buzzed for weeks over whether Bush would use the
>100th anniversary of the Wright brothers' flight to announce a new mission to
>the moon or to Mars, but the White House made clear the president had no
>such intentions.

I'm not surprised and don't know if I'm pleased or disappointed. It would have been a catastrophe if Bush made a speech saying that we're going to spend the next 15 years simply redoing what Neil Armstrong did in 1969 (many people expected this). Except for purposes of academic planetary science and radio astronomy, there's no reason to go back to the Moon. An annoucement that we're going to Mars would have been highly desireable. Mars Exploration Rover will land on Mars next month. Maybe then Bush will make an annoucement. Then again, maybe Bush will let the whole Space Program wither away to nothing (it won't take long for that to happen).

Gary