In “Shuttles’ end stirs doubts about U.S. space program,” Irene Klotz (News Daily, 2011/07/06) reports
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida, July 6, 2011 (Reuters) — As the clock ticks down to this week’s final space shuttle launch, there is a mounting sense of uncertainty about future U.S. dominance in space.
[ … ]
… veteran former astronauts say the space program is in “disarray” and fear the end of the shuttles could mean a permanent decline in U.S. space leadership as well.
Even one senior NASA official voiced pointed criticism recently about what he described as “poor policy” and the lack of any coherent leadership from Washington.
Some ask, why blame Washington?
If it’s true that we live in a multiverse or a giant sim, as so many up-to-the-minute cosmologists think, what’s the point of “Boldly go” any more?
As a commercial enterprise, maybe, but who would look to that for meaning in life, as so many moderns have in theories about the universe?
Thoughts?