<i>>> <He obviously has an ax to grind against human spaceflight ><br /> />if so, then why does he speak favorably about the VSE? I think he's just a harsh critic of the STS and ISS.</i><br /><br />I missed that, sorry. That makes his piece even more confusing. ISS technology and knowledge would go into the life support, EVA, structures and materials needed for making VSE happen. Abandoning the ISS is premature, at the least. Finding more efficient ways to utilize it is probably in order, and seems to be happening already. <br /><br />In some ways he is crying over spilt milk - it's almost Core Complete. This is following the exact path that some have predicted, NASA is the trailblazer (w/ Energia) and is moving on to new things. The US Segment will become a National Lab with others attached, the Russian Segment will continue to host cosmonauts and tourists. Eventually it will wear out, just like Salyuts, Skylab and Mir, and modules will be upgraded (w/ new VSE modules or BAs)or deorbited. What's the conflict? <br /><br />Alternately, in some way, he might be right. Is One Space Station a money-pit? probably. Are several dozen Stations throughout the inner Solar System a money-pit? No, they are the next new economy. This is entirely consistent with NASA doing spectacular exploration and R&D while enterprise and academia follow, but is not something that a national space agency could reasonably do alone - it is simply to large a capital project. Building an initial resource-based space economy requires large incentives (ie. money and the potential for more) to make happen. The best model is ground-up - each station-site specializes from the beginning on extracting a local resource, and grows outward from there. Each base would be it's own corporation and later settlement. This would be a viable legacy for all past US and Russian stations. <br /><br />His assertion that there would only be 'the One' focus is short-sighted and ill-researched. <br /><br />Josh <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <div align="center"><em>We need a first generation of pioneers.</em><br /></div> </div>