<font color="yellow">"Nice article. That was a great read."</font><br /><br />What I thought was so great about it was the editor's note at the end, again making the point that voting for a Presidential candidate strictly for his alleged views on space policy is myopic. Looking at the candidate's support, or lack of it, for NASA is, IMHO, ignoring, or at least discounting, all the other possible players in this game.<br /><br />Many space keeners on these boards have lamented the over-reliance of NASA on the Shuttle and ISS programs while others have touted the need for more support of private space efforts. NASA can play a role in the future of any private efforts but sooner or later it will have to be less of the lead organization in aerospace and become more of what it is in aeronautics where it performs a useful service to the flying community.<br /><br />I'm not going to bash NASA. It has had its great successes as well as its spectacular failures. It has done as well as can be expected considering the politics surrounding it. OTOH, it is time to move on to something bigger and better. It is time to unleash the private sector and take the pressure off of NASA as the sole focus of US space efforts. Not only will that get us closer to the day all of us can visit space, but it also has the potential of providing us with a boost to our economy.<br /><br />Of course, the best thing that could happen for space keeners would be for the economy to improve. The debate over which candidate has the best chance of managing that might be more useful than who would provide the most support for NASA. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font size="3" color="#ff9900"><p><font size="1" color="#993300"><strong><em>------------------------------------------------------------------- </em></strong></font></p><p><font size="1" color="#993300"><strong><em>"I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical. Unsuccessful rebellions, indeed, generally establish the encroachments on the rights of the people which have produced them. An observation of this truth should render honest republican governors so mild in their punishment of rebellions as not to discourage them too much. It is a medicine necessary for the sound health of government."</em></strong></font></p><p><font size="1" color="#993300"><strong>Thomas Jefferson</strong></font></p></font> </div>