Space News Letter to Editor

Al,

I don't think Whittington would disagree with you. As
he stated in his article: "It means establishment of,
not just space stations ir bases, but of human
settlements on the Moon, Mars and other places found
to be suitable". Your proposal definitely fits in the
other places.

The lunar plan he outlined he stated was just an
example of how one such program may be implemented. I
think the overall point is one I agree with. That an
incremental approach is needed, with specific goals
that need to be met at each step.

His arguement is that once we have any step made in
making an established presence in space, the rest of
the settlement types will follow. I believe this
includes orbital colonies.

I agree that in the long term, orbital colonies make
the most sense. However, the incremental nature of
our space program needs something that allows
politicians and bureaucrats to mark off clearly
defined goals as accomplished. Going the lunar path
allows for easy, clearly marked steps to follow.

Instead of arguing the merits of moon vs orbital vs
mars, I think it may be better to outline an example
of easy to reach steps with an attached outlined
timeline.

If I remember correctly, Victoriatangoman had started
work on something of this nature...

Ryan Z

--- Al Globus wrote: