Tre befälhavare för apolloexpeditioner, Neil Armstrong (Apollo 11), James Lovell (Apollo 13) och Eugene Cernan (Apollo 17) skriver ett öppet brev med kritik mot president Obamas planer på att skrota Constellation/Ares-projektet: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/apr/15/obama-nasa-space-neil-armstrong "Although some of these proposals have merit, the accompanying decision to cancel the Constellation programme, its Ares 1 and Ares V rockets, and the Orion spacecraft, is devastating. America's only path to low Earth orbit and the International Space Station will now be subject to an agreement with Russia to purchase space on their Soyuz ... The availability of a commercial transport to orbit as envisioned in the president's proposal cannot be predicted with any certainty, but is likely to take substantially longer and be more expensive than we would hope. It appears that we will have wasted our current $10bn-plus investment in Constellation and, equally importantly, we will have lost the many years required to recreate the equivalent of what we will have discarded ... While the president's plan envisages humans travelling away from Earth and perhaps toward Mars at some time in the future, the lack of developed rockets and spacecraft will assure that ability will not be available for many years. Without the skill and experience that actual spacecraft operation provides, the US is far too likely to be on a long downhill slide to mediocrity." Obamas plan är ju att istället för de skrotade programmen använda sig av kommersiella projekt, som dock inte ligger så långt framme i utvecklingen. Och man kan undra om inte de tre astronauterna har en viss poäng i vad de säger. --Ahrvid -- ahrvid@xxxxxxxxxxx / Gå med i SKRIVA - för författande, sf, fantasy, kultur (skriva-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, subj: subscribe) YXSKAFTBUD, GE VÅR WCZONMÖ IQ-HJÄLP! (DN NoN 00.02.07) _________________________________________________________________ Messenger i mobilen! http://new.windowslivemobile.msn.com/SE-SE/windows-live-messenger-wap/default.aspx----- SKRIVA - sf, fantasy och skräck * Äldsta svenska skrivarlistan grundad 1997 * Info http://www.skriva.bravewriting.com eller skriva- request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx för listkommandon (ex subject: subscribe).