Focus on robotics and telepresence, not on crewed flight

Here, here! I concur with your assessment, Mitchell. I vote for a focus
on robotics. We would be best served if NASA would try to eliminate the
participation of humans in spaceflight if at all possible, using them only
when a robotic or telepresence solution would be unworkable.

Example 1: Microgravity experiments planned for ISS Alpha might benefit
by having the station vacated for periods of time. Right now NASA seems
committed to this silly "permanent human presence" aspect of ISS Alpha
(they made a big deal the day that the first crew went up to it, saying
that it was the last time there would be no humans in space). If it makes
sense to occasionally let ISS Alpha be empty, in order to reduce vibrations
to the structure so that sensitive microgravity experiments can be
optimized, I say "Go for it!". Don't be constrained by some bizarre
committment to keep people up there just for the sake of keeping people up
there.

Example 2: There is forever this emphasis in experiments on the Shuttle
and ISS Alpha on the long-term effects of freefall on the human body.
This is so circular: we send people up into space so we can study how
people react to being in space! Personally, I think we should call a
moratorium on such research until such time as launch costs come down
significantly. There's not much use spending a lot of money now on such
biomedical research when it is the case that nobody besides government
employess are going to be spending significant amounts of time in space for
the near future. We'ed be better off focusing the ISS Alpha research on
items that might actually lead to some kind of future product development,
not on human biology.

Ron Menich

"Mitchell E.
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03/22/01 12:09
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...

Which brings up the question: Would the High Frontier goal be better served
by a NASA focused on manned missions or on a NASA which has no manned
missions? I believe that a much smaller NASA without a manned mission
program would be better. ...

Mitchell James
http://www.InnerTransit.org
mejames@...