[southland]

I agree with your post. We have no business flying foreigners and others just for publicity. We get too much negative press when something screws up. Lokk at Challenger... we killed a school teacher.. what for??
This time we killed an Isralei. and again what for??

[Atlas Sneezed]

"Look at Challenger... we killed a school teacher.. what for?? This time we killed an Israeli. and again what for??"

I guess it's too soon for the morbid humor that would lead me to wonder how all the Congressional passengers flew unscathed.

Seriously, if there had been a US Senator on board, does anyone think that NASA would have -(making an assumption now)- crossed their fingers about re-entry safety, instead of taking extraordinary measures to save the crew?