The Good News:

After 2017, the overwhelming majority of NASA's budget will be directed towards "exploration". I'm using the word "exploration" loosely here because it'll mostly involve the Moon.

The Bad News:

The infrastructure that was supposed to provide us with an "economical" foothold into Space (recoverable launch vehicles and a LEO space station) is being pitched into the trash can. President Bush (perhaps without realizing it) has made a very clear statement that almost everything done by NASA concerning manned spaceflight since 1972 was a mistake. In essence he is turning the clock back to 1972 except we won't have Saturn V technology. Perhaps this is the logical consequence of the Challenger / Columbia accidents along with the ISP budget blow out.

We were better off in 1972 so this is not an entirely bad thing. However this is a horrible commentary upon the intelligence shown by the US federal government towards Space Exploration for the last three decades. I wish someone could get into a time machine and tell President Nixon: "Don't do this!!"

Finally: Has anyone noticed that nothing really happens until AFTER Bush leaves office in 2008? If Hillary is elected in 2008 (which is probable), she could opt to flush the whole works down the toilet (do a repeat of what Nixon did in 1972).

Gary