Perhaps the reason that people lose faith in space exploration is that it is not thought of by society in general as something that involves everyone, just a small group of scientists working on things which someday might be important. Air transportation is a part of our daily lives, interwoven into the fabric of it, something which in some way involves everyone. When the American West was being settled by wagon train, it was not thought of as part of the lives of many people. When the railroads were built, that all changed, because the West had become accesable without spending years getting there, and a lot of people were going there.<br /><br />Space exploration is being treated like a scientific research program, with no thought of growth, and without any economic impact. Air transportation is big business, and shutting it down because o plane crashed would cost billions of dollars in lost profits. Making space big business, by focusing on the rewards of the industrial uses of space, is the best way that I can think of to promote the further exploration of space. This means focusing on keeping people in space for long periods, and traveling back and forth between Low Earth Orbit and the Moon. 'Industrial materials processing' and 'resource extraction' are the phrases that need to be asscociated with 'space exploration'. 'Tourisim' and 'colonization' should be avoided, because they are exclusionary, limiting the population affected by space exploration to people who can afford to, and want to, go into space. There is a difference between saying "I want to work on the North Slope in Alsaka", and "I want to move to Alsaka".<br /><br />Oil refinery workers have been killed numerous times in industrial accidents, but shutting down all the refineries until the cause has been identified, and the repairs effected, is not even thought of. Commerce must continue, or everyone will be affected. Astronauts are not industrial workers, they are pioneers on a brave front <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> The secret to peace of mind is a short attention span. </div>