Shuttle Huddle

Will there be any long-term implications of the Columbia tragedy? Is the fact few people even realized there was a shuttle flight going on until it crashed an omen that NASA is losing its magic or an encouraging sign that we now take space travel for granted? Is NASA helping us move ahead with space exploration, or holding us back? If these questions are not making your eyes glaze over, check out my article on the space agency's relation to privatization, and Brian's very sharp and very optimistic take on the near future of space exploration. (For those many kind readers who have written in about the fate of my Challenger article from last week: I'll put it back up in due time, but now is obviously neither the time nor the place. For those who insist I jinxed the shuttle, I assure you I didn't even know we had a shuttle up there until it broke up.)