Bush’s Plan for Voyage to Mars
President Bush’s call for a manned mission to Mars by 2019, while exciting, is irresponsible. Unmanned space exploration, which is much cheaper than manned programs, has proven to be highly successful. The Viking Mars mission, which cost about $1 billion, returned photos and other data for years; a manned mission costing 100 times as much would only collect data for months before returning to Earth. Man has no place in space when, according to UNICEF estimates, spending $50 billion a year over 10 years could eliminate absolute poverty from the Earth forever. Maybe Earth is less exciting than Mars, but work should come before play.
LARRY BAUM
La Jolla
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