{{B}}Should the U.S. halt human space flight?{{/B}}
The Columbia accident has revived the debate on whether the rewards of
human space exploration are worth the risks.
No. I was a teacher when men first landed on the moon in 1969, and I remember how it moved my students and this country.{{U}} (46) {{/U}}And we haven't ventured outward since then. That's 30 years too long! America's human space-flight program is adrift, with no clear vision or goals beyond the completion of the International Space Station.
I want NASA to establish a phased series of goals over the next 20 years, including human visits to asteroids that cross the Earth's orbit, establishing a research and living facility for humans on the moon, and human expeditions to the surface of Mars and its moons.{{U}} (47) {{/U}}.
An astronaut is today's Christopher Columbus, who sailed into the unknown and discovered the Americas. The knowledge we gain from having actual people exploring can never be replaced by robots.{{U}} (48) {{/U}}Robots are useful, but humans can do things that robots can't.
The real obstacle we face in overcoming the drift in the nation's human space-flight program is not technological and it's not financial.{{U}} (49) {{/U}}.
The lesson from the Columbia accident is not that humans don't belong in space. {{U}}(50) {{/U}}.
A Instead, we should honor the memory of the lost astronauts by pushing our exploration of space future.
B Astronauts are key to this expanded exploration.
C It's the lack of commitment to get started.
D Until then, we should stop risking people's lives by sending them into space.
E It is now more than 30 years since the last American left the surface of the moon and returned to Earth.
F Our ability to send humans into space and have them return gives us amazing information about ourselves and our universe.