I expect the space board to get interesting as we finaly start to move toward a shuttle replacement.
It will be interesting to see how politics play a role in that discussion: Right now it looks like Democrats are lining up behind the position of it ain't too broke and its to expensive to fix it (regarding the shuttle). The Republicans are taking the position that we need to start planning a replacement ASAP.
After the election will the positions change? Time will tell.
Scott Evil
P.S. As long a we rely on government to get us to and from space, Politics will continue to be the biggest factor in determining what we do and how we do it (in space).