>I'm not so sure. After all, it been about 1/3 of a century since we landed on the moon and now all we are doing is a tinker-toy "space station" for publicity while we try to figure out how to get into space more efficiently.

>If we can't get a way from impulse engines then we won't be going anywhere in the forseeable future.

Jerry;

I worked on the Apollo and LEM projects - all of them. We were happy to see the success of each project. At that time NASA paid cost plus 10% to manufacturers and quality was THE issue! It had to be correct as people’s lives were at stake.

The recent (a few years ago) "Mars landing", made me sick. NASA has changes so much since the late 1960's - early 1970's. The dictate for the Mars Landing was the use of off the shelf hardware and software. One example of this was the little vehicle that landed had a $10 hobby motor as its principle source of locomotion. Life expectancy of the Mars Rover was seven days. Why spend millions to launch a $10 dollar motor that will last for seven days?

With the present NASA funding and attitude, I would not want to be associated with putting anyone into space. Quality today is not the focus of NASA rather saving a buck takes top priority along with looking politically correct.

Sorry - that is what I get for being “too old” and having a value system.

Tom