Since discussion regarding the topic has run its course, and the remaining participants no longer seem interested in civil discourse, I am closing the comments for this post.

No, that is not what you posted. If you had said that, I would have found nothing to diagree with.

You posted that you told your son the NASA program would allow *him* to go into space. Given the number of NASA astronauts who will fly in that program, your statement is almost certainly false, and I’m sure you know that.

Now, you’re changing your story and accusing me of lying.

Several months ago I posted something on another board to the effect that my 13-year-old son was excited by the prospect of the US manned space program doing something other than orbit the Earth. My point being that others like my son could be inspired to study fields of science, technology etc. by such a program, I’m certainly not the first to point out this “spin-off” of an exciting space program.

Since then Mr. Wright has on several occasions made remarks about my son, going so far as to say that I have lied to my son.

Such behavior is beyond the pale of civil discourse, yet it is typical and all too common for Edward Wright.

Then why did you post it on a public BBS?

You have called me stupid, unpatriotic, and illegitmate, all because I believe in American free enterprise rather than blindly “supporting the President’s vision.”

That’s pretty ironic, since I voted for George W. Bush twice, while the NASA employees’ union endorsed John F. Kerry. Keith Cowing, the public spokesman for NASA’s VSE, also campaigned for Kerry. So, your attempts to make this a partisan issue are way, way, WAY off base.

You told your son NASA would get him to go into space — and you say I’m living in a dream world?

I’m sorry if you think no one but the government can do anything. I wonder what happened to make you so cynical about America?

Rutan probably won’t beat NASA back to orbit (even they aren’t that incompetent), but I really wouldn’t be surprised if a private entity is the next to visit the Moon or the first to visit Mars. NASA’s several years out on that, and there’s still a good chance that something along the way could derail them. When was the last time NASA went to the Moon?

More importantly, if private entities don’t start going to the Moon or Mars, this whole VSE will be a bloody waste. If the entire point of all that NASA is doing is just to get a couple of their nerds back to the moon, they don’t deserve the money we give them. The only point in giving NASA money is if they’re actually doing something to open up space for the rest of us.