OUT IN SPACE: I read today that NASA is eliminating many of it science satellites and planetary probes over the next five years because of President Bush’s mandate that we keep the Shuttle going for a while longer, finish the Freedom space station, and build the new CEV to go back to the Moon.

Oh great. NASA is eliminating some of the most exciting, far-reaching science missions, the cutting edge stuff that could help answer the biggest questions about the universe, just so that we can re-do what we did in space 30 years ago. Just send people whirling around the planet, and then back to the moon to pick up some more grey rocks.

Come on. Back in the 1960’s, at least it all had some military usefulness; it helped to scare the Soviet commies. But what’s the point today? The Shuttle is an old, dangerous piece of junk, and the space station is not a real science lab. It doesn’t have any true usefulness. It’s in the wrong orbit to be of any help in launching or recovering space probes from other planets (or from asteroids or comets). And it’s now well known that being in space for long periods is a major health hazard.

People just weren’t built to be in a weightless environment for more than a few days. (OK, the Moon has some gravity; but from what I’ve read, people will still be subject to bone and muscle problems due to the low gravitational force up there). Nonetheless, Mr. Bush thinks we should use our rockets and highest technology to put on another big space opera, instead of pushing our science where no one has gone before.

Well, maybe it’s just a part of Mr. Bush’s Christian viewpoint; maybe he sees astrophysics as the modern apple and scientists as the serpents. Perhaps we should just stay happy and dumb (and injured) in the garden of earth orbit and on the lunar Eden.