"Magnus Olsson" wrote:

Henry Spencer wrote:

NASA is going to have
to move quickly on a shuttle replacement, and without spending a whole
lot
of money on it either. Be interesting to see whether they can do it.

What gives me a bad feeling about the whole plan is NASA's abysmal
track record in this regard: if there's one thing they've proved
themselves utterly unable to do, it's to develop a shuttle
replacement. Deciding to retire the shuttle fleet without a viable
replacement seems a very risky decision.

Magnus Olsson )

This is true: there is a long line of failed and abandoned X projects**.
Some were canned due to - in the big picture - trying to do too much at
once. Some were canned because they didn't fit into some nebulous and
unspoken, changing "vision". Having a long-term vision like that presented
by Bush the other day may help that, as will trying to use existing
technology as much as possible. But as many have said, accomplishing the
long-term vision will require a change in the way business is done.

Jon

** Though in defense of NASA, there is also a huge amount of good R&D done
successfully that most people never see.

-- The opinions expressed here are mine alone.