Like all Americans I am sorry for the loss of the pilots aboard Columbia. I feel sorry for the families of these fine people.
The question is this, what has the space program brought to the people of the world and the United States? What is the purpose of these missions?
I personally see billions of dollars being wasted for silly experimentation. Humanity does not have the technology yet to explore space even to Mars yet, and even if we do what would we find? What is the benefit of this?
I felt that NASA has solved the problems of the shuttle in the late 1980s. NASA has known for years about the heat tiles, but yet, there they are, and probably because of them 7 people are dead.
If there is a profitable venture from all these shots into space, isn’ it not better that private industry fund these flights and the billions that we are currently spending be better spent in our schools, libraries, and national defense?
BEAM ME UP RICK HUSBAND!