[P.O.E.]

I hate to say this, I really do.

But.....

Is it possible NASA spent so much of its focus and energy on the politics (e.g., the "diversity" of the crews) and less on the technicals?

I mean no offense to the crews and their families.

Sorry to have to say it at this time, but the thought did occur to me.

[Alberta's Child]

There's nothing offensive about that post. I said the same thing immediately after the Challenger disaster, and I'll always speculate on it about this one, too.

Not that the crew was unqualified, but that NASA's priorities may be out of whack.

Go back and look at the crew photos of the first half-dozen shuttle missions after the shuttle program was re-started in the wake of the Challenger disaster. Military payloads were given top priority, and the crews, if I remember correctly, were almost all older white men.