I hope no-one on this list thinks that interstellar, or even interplanetary travel will be common anytime soon. We have barely scratched the surface, so to speak, of space exploration, even in our own solar system. It's time to start taking samples, setting up permanent robotic or manned stations where possible, take the next step of doing science based on what we have learned so far. Advanced propulsion systems that will actually make a big engineering difference are decades to hundreds of years away. Interplanetary travel as a "tourist" industry is generations away. We won't live to see it as a commonplace event. Interstellar travel within the timespan of a human lifetime, if possible at all, is probably at least a thousand years away, barring a fundamental discovery on the nature of space and time (Zephram Cochrane, where are you?) I wish NASA would work on long-term projects. This short-term stuff (years to decades) is all just varaiations on a theme, much ado about nothing. We need to invest in projects that our great-grandchildren will finish. Instead we think in terms of what return we'll see during our careers. C. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Send FREE Valentine eCards with Yahoo! Greetings! http://greetings.yahoo.com