Boldly going nowhere

Re “4th spacewalk wraps up Discovery’s to-do list,” Dec. 19

I fear the U.S. manned space program is going nowhere. No human has walked on the moon since 1972, when astronaut Gene Cernan climbed back into his spacecraft and declared that humans, “God willing ... shall return.” What has happened to NASA’s technological mastery of human spaceflight? The space shuttle is flawed, and the International Space Station was a mistake. If President Bush were a true space enthusiast, he would follow through on his commitment to space exploration with priority funding. Space exploration is an investment in our future and will move humanity past war and aggression on Earth. Human exploration of the moon, Mars and beyond would restore national pride and bring purpose to our space program. If such visionaries as President Kennedy, rocket designer Wernher von Braun and astronomer Carl Sagan were alive today, we probably would be walking on Mars.

RICK SCHREINER

San Marino