The Economist on NASA

Paper spacecraft, The Economist

“Frank Sietzen, a journalist and co-author of New Moon Rising, a chronicle of the development of the new NASA vision, has spent the better part of the past six months leafing through these contracts in order to divine the agency’s plans. He says that because the CEV must be compatible with other components of the vision, the contracts give details of how NASA is planning to explore the moon and Mars.”

Objective, moon, The Economist

“Perhaps, though, whether the vision can be realised or not is beside the point. The actual point is to give a drifting agency some focus, Mr Bush’s initial goal. This re-focusing will have profound consequences for the agency’s scientific missionwhich some people feel is what it should be concentrating on, and isn’t. Admiral Steidle told the meeting that the vision was “first and foremost” about advancing science. That, though, looks like disingenuous spin.”