Warning: The following could be considered pontificating (something that I very much favor on this forum, whether I agree with what is being pontificated or not.) I just watched another interview with William Parsons (no, not the 3rd Earl of Rose, rather the guy in charge of the shuttle program). It's a good thing I'm beyond the "throwing things" phase or I might have thrown my tea mug at the TV. Seldom have I heard such inanity coming from questioners. (I'd say "media" but I don't want Joe to think I lump him in with what I've been seeing today.) My biggest regret just now is that I can't be within earshot when the good Mr. Parsons is with family and friends and says what he really thinks of some of those questions and comments. It would have felt so good to hear him come back to one of those "Don't you think you were stupid to put all those live at risk?" questions with something refreshing like, "Look, no one ever said spaceflight is safe. Right or wrong the only way for the US to get people into space just now is with the shuttle. It's an old machine based on even older technology. But it's all we've got. We are humans so we sometimes make mistakes. But we do what we can (and have done some pretty wonderful things) with the meager resources alloted by a bunch of politicians that don't know their butt from a black hole and who can't see past the next election. So back off and let us try again to find and fix the problem."