Good for you!! For at least once we are on the same wavelength here! My biggest worry is that the kind of negative people here (such as askold, who has stated that he wants only robotic exploration of space, and spacefire, who seems to be sarcastically against anything that NASA has ever done) will be able to prevail with such a congress against someone like Mike Griffin. Already I see where congress is heading down the same path that in the early 1970's RESULTED in the much despised shuttle. <br /><br />What is so very sad to me is that it would take so relatively little to let the experts as NASA (if they aren't more expert that the negativists, and congress, then I don't know who would be) design and build the next system. Evidently what Griffin wants to do is to save those portions of the STS system that do have merit, such as the much tested SRB's to be used with what design inovations that the shuttle lessons have taught us, to come up with a system that can carry out President Bush's vision for NASA, at as reasonable a rate as can be had. Otherwise, what would these experts here do, start all over from scratch?? This IS his job, and all the carping by people who have NEVER had to deal with the reality of placing human beings into space, is NOT helpful. <br /><br />We in the US spend far more on cigaretts, booze, and illegal drugs by several times (and not only do our tax dollars go to combat these evils, but this is one of the elements in the high cost of health care, that WE ALL pay for), maybe as much combined as even 10x as much as NASA's entire budget. Where is askold's and spacefire's indignation at paying for this total waste!<br /><br />My God, what a horrible thought! NASA might have to keep its experianced people on in their middle class jobs, with middle class benifits and wages! Why shouldn't we all want to work at Wal Mart for just a tad over minimum wage, and no benifits. Then some of these very people wonder why the scientific and engineer