Raoul said:

>So, here we are, with pro-space fans not wanting to go
>around the world anymore and pro-space fans not
>wanting flag and footprints anymore.
>The point also is: who can pretend a beter kind of manned
>shuttle won't be as expensive to develope and dangerous to use
>and who can pretend going to Mars won't be flag and footprints
>either?

The issue with Flag and Footprints is that it is not sustainable. Eventually the public realizes it is a pointless waste of money. Going endlessly around in circles in Low Earth Orbit and producing nothing but news clips of astronauts in zero-G is also not sustainable and a waste of money. Basing any sort of Space Program on fraud is definitely not sustainable, e.g. surface life on Mars, lunar He-3, etc.

What sincere advocates of Space Exploration and Development want is a SUSTAINABLE Space Program.

Key word: SUSTAINABLE

Few people realize how badly damaged the United States was by the Apollo Program. In 1962, President Kennedy said America would put a man on the Moon before the end of the decade, 1969. That was a seven year process that focused America's best-and-brighest technical talent upon a single goal. There was also an implied goal that America would continue in Space Exploration either by establishing bases on the Moon or exploring Mars. In 1963, making aerospace engineering a career choice was an obvious slam dunk decision. After leaving High School, a very bright guy can get a Ph.D. in about 7 years. During that 7 year process starting in 1962, the very cream of America's technical talent educated themselves for a Space Program that imploded in 1968. When Nixon terminated the Apollo Program, he crushed the dreams of an entire generation of America's best-and-brightest (small wonder that America's Golden Age ended in the 60s). A few of those people stayed in aerospace and became military engineers or worked on what was left at NASA, e.g. the Shuttle. The rest changed careers, e.g. went into computer science, electrical engineering, etc.. I can not begin to describe how incredibly unethical it was to dangle that promised future in front of a generation of young people simply to flick it into the trash because of a random political policy change.

Aerospace engineering should be a safe career choice. The future is in Space. It is vital that a Space Program be established where a bright person can pursue a university degree in aerospace technology and know that he'll have a job after he gets his degree.

Gary