NASA Should Pursue Space Exploration

Re “Longest-Serving NASA Chief to Quit,” Oct. 18: Let us hope that whoever succeeds outgoing NASA administrator Daniel S. Goldin will continue to pursue interplanetary space exploration with the same enthusiasm that he did. Specifically, NASA should commit itself to sending a man-made probe on a fly-by mission to Pluto.

The importance of exploring Pluto cannot be overstated. It is the only planet in our solar system discovered by an American, but it remains the only one not yet visited by a U.S. spacecraft. The reason for its highly elliptical orbit is unknown, its relationship with its moon Charon is not well understood and even its status as a planet remains controversial in some circles.

Also, a Pluto mission could simultaneously allow for the exploration of the Kuiper Belt, the region of asteroids beyond Pluto’s orbit, which may be the source of origin of many or even most of the comets in our solar system.

There is perhaps no more defiantly patriotic response to the horrendous terror attacks on our country--still the only nation to fulfill the ancient dream of sending a man to the moon--than to reaffirm our commitment to space exploration and to humankind’s destiny and future.

Stephen A. Silver

Concord, Calif.