[Smile-n-Win]

The U.S. should discontinue manned space flight ASAP.

A lot of people die in car accidents every year--and each of their deaths is a terrible tragedy for their families--but does that mean we should discontinue driving?

Soldiers die defending our freedom--does that mean we should stop defending our freedom?

Or should we rather try and make cars and defense efforts and spacecraft safer, "expand[ing] man's horizons" ?

President Reagan's speech after the Challenger disaster has been posted many times today, and I quoted my favorite paragraph earlier on this thread:

And I want to say something to the schoolchildren of America who were watching the live coverage of the shuttle's takeoff. I know it is hard to understand, but sometimes painful things like this happen. It's all part of the process of exploration and discovery. It's all part of taking a chance and expanding man's horizons. The future doesn't belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave. The Challenger crew was pulling us into the future, and we'll continue to follow them...

[The South Park Republican]

Exactly...

Based on what they are really doing (Straping a rocket to their asses and flying into space) and how many times they have done it, our loses have been tiny.

Of course, our histerical public doesn't take this into account.

Personally, I would leave ALL the decisions up to those who actually go up into space.

I'm serious when I say I would give my left arm for a trip on the space shuttle. And I would GLADLY do up tommorrow. Heck...RIGHT NOW!

[Darnright]

"The future doesn't belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave."

God bless President Reagan. He gave the most fitting tribute to Challenger those years ago. His words ring true on this sad day.

[Man of the Right]

Manned space flight is an anachronism. It impedes space exploration and exploitation.

Obviously, auto transportation is no analogy because its purpose is to transport people.