--- Michael Carnes <michaelcarnes@earthlink.net> wrote:
Kurt, we'll just have to agree to disagree on that.
I agree with you that we are not getting our bang for the buck in terms of science projects on the ISS. That is in part why I posted the links to the ISS science fact sheets - so everyone can look for themselves. Patrick's post explains why.
I love the idea of a true space plane, but I don't feel any kind of Manhattan-style project will get us there.
That's what I like about the Soviet Kliper space "taxi." It's reusable, smaller, won't need 23,000 ceramic tiles, launches a crew of four to low oribt on top of a beefed up Soyuz booster, all existing technology. Separate the people from the cargo and get them to low orbit and back safely. - Canopus56(Kurt) __________________________________ Yahoo! Mail - PC Magazine Editors' Choice 2005 http://mail.yahoo.com