Article Published: Friday, July 29, 2005 - 11:42:31 AM PST

There's no doubt shuttle program risks outweigh value

By Steve Chapman

NASA's deliberations about when to resume flights by the space shuttle bring to mind the New Yorker cartoon of an executive on the phone, looking at his calendar and saying, "How about never? Does never work for you?'
After spending two-and-a-half years and huge amounts of money to prevent a recurrence of the problem that destroyed the last shuttle, the agency now finds the problem has recurred. If NASA takes appropriate action, though, it won't happen on the next shuttle flight, because there won't be a next shuttle flight.

With luck, the seven astronauts aboard will return safely to Earth next week. But even if it ends happily, the Discovery mission can only be described as a disaster. On the first day, agency personnel were elated by the sight of the craft soaring into orbit. On the second day, they were disconsolate at the news that, once again, a dangerously large chunk of insulating foam fell off the external fuel tank during the launch.

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