professional opinions solicited on shuttle launch

I am a student at San Francisco state, journalism major, and am compiling a
story about the upcoming space shuttle launch. i am on a deadline and truly
would like to have an opinion about this subject.

As you no doubt already know, the shuttle has been grounded for over two
years due to the tragic Columbia accident. The launch window for the
upgraded shuttle is from May 22 - Jun 3, 2005. What are your thoughts about
this? How important is the space shuttle to a discipline such as, say,
cosmology or astronomy?

Presuming you know that the space shuttle is destined for the scrap heap of
time in very short order (President's orders), what are the options with
regard to scientific exploration of our cosmic neighborhood? Are we
relegated to computer assisted robotics? Is that such a bad thing,
considering the cost of doing business in manned-space? Is the space station
a viable endeavor?

One of the things that strikes me about the International Space Station is
not simply the cost of building the thing. The interesting big picture, in
my opinion, is the interconnectedness of the international scientific
communities that occurs as a result of shared responsibilities, and
knowledge, coming out of the investment in and operations of the space
station. I guess my question is, can you put a price on that? Can you put a
cap on the price of a vehicle (the ISS) that delivers scientific and, in
most cases, economic integration between different cultures? Do you agree
with the President's call for the phasing out of the space shuttle, and of
NASA focusing instead on exploring beyond our little nexus of space and
going to the Moon and Mars?

I'm writing a 1000 word article for my magazine editing class, and would be
happy to share it with you when I'm finished. Thank you for your time



Sincerely,

Scott E. Van Velsor



please reply to:

svanvel at comcast dot net