From Phil Stracchino
David Getling wonders issue why it is that with 35 years of experience and vastly improved technology, George W. Bush picked a target date 16 years out to return to the moon, when it only took eight years to get there in the first place (3 September, p 19).
The answer, I think, is very simple: Bush intentionally picked a date far enough out that even if he was somehow permitted a third term, there would still be practically zero chance that he would ever have to make good on it.
I will go out on a limb and make a prediction that a commercial, private-sector spaceflight company will land a man on the moon long before a US government programme manages to do so again.
Theoretically, the replacement for the Shuttle is supposed to fly by 2011. I will be surprised if it’s even off the drawing boards by then, unless NASA just buys commercial, off-the-shelf hardware — which might well actually be its best bet.
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Hudson, New Hampshire, US
