DEAR STUDENT DIRECT,
RE ‘A Galactic Question’ [Opinion, issue nineteen]. I think this is quite an ignorant and narrow-minded article.
If you actually look at NASA's successful launch rates for ALL its launches, you'll find it's vastly successful at what it does. If you take a minute just to find out what NASA does out of the media spotlight - building things like GPS systems, natural disaster early-warning systems, etc. - you'd be amazed. Also, look at the great scientific returns that have been coming back from NASA's missions to Mars, Saturn (Cassini), and their observatories, you'd be saying they're doing a fantastic job with the money they get.
One negative thing, of course, is all the money that is being sunk into "publicity stunts" like the shuttle launches and the international space station. Those initiatives return very little scientific value - they're really just to keep the public's interest up and to keep funding coming into NASA so that it can do real stuff. Of course, when Dubya shuffles off, we may get a President who is keen to do more real scientific research and less setting off fireworks for the media. Here's hoping.
Paul
NASA Employee
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