hey raoul,

"I sure hope this won't affect the number of persons going to space."

I'd sure like to say, "Au contraire, I bet it DOES affect the number of people in space.", reflecting the hope that either 1) Major better, faster, more stronger than before repairs to the system occur, or 2) the nex-gen ship is bumped up in priority to replace the old beast.

But, I'm willing to bet, as least as far as the US is concerned, that we'll probably milk the shuttle past 2010, push back lunar landings until at least 2020-2025, and I'll end up being too old to take the stress of liftoff to enjoy vacations to Mars that I'm saving up for now.

Thank God for Burt!