I couldn't agree with you more. I would dearly love to see humans sent to
Mars, as well as establishing a base on the Moon. That said, however, I
believe Bush is merely grandstanding and trying to show the electorate that
he has "vision." For Bush, this is no more than a political move for
reelection. Something of this magnitude needs to be mote thoroughly
discussed, dissected, etc, between actual science and space experts, as well
as both sides of Congress, to make sure it's a workable long-range plan that
can and will be implemented, no matter who may be sitting in the White House
in the future. Hell! In order to come up with a long-range energy plan,
Bush/Cheney spent MONTHS in consultations with energy industry leaders and
the GOP leadership (although they refused to consult ALL sides...but I won't
go there now..). Doesn't something of the magnitude of going to Mars
deserve as much or more?

"Bill Clark" wrote in message
om...
So NASA cancels a shuttle maintance mission and says it's cheaper to

(1) re-write the shuttle software program to work with three gyros
operational instead of four; then probably with two instead of three
(we don't even know this is POSSIBLE yet)

(2) design, test, and built a new experiental robot spacecraft that
when launched will rendezvous with the Hubble, attach to it, then
guide it to splashdown in a remote part of the ocean (we don't know if
this is POSSIBLE either)

I find it hard to believe that a single shuttle trip to Hubble to do
regular maintenance will be cheaper than these very risky, unproven
elaborate programs.

As far as that goes, what happens if Bush loses the election and the
next President disagrees with his plans for NASA? Then several
billion dollars will be spent, and many priceless missions canceled,
for nothing at all.

I'm as much of a fan of a mission to the moon and to Mars, but I
believe that NASA should not act on what the President says. Changes
in space policy of this magnitude must be approved by Congress, and
officially written into law after lengthy public debate. Otherwise
we're just chasing our tail like a dog.

Bill Clark
http://home.austin.rr.com/whcii/