Backward thinking

Risk & Insurance, August, 2004 by Alan Kornman

Dear Editor:

Your remarks regarding the president's new space initiative were mean spirited and naive. (Editor's column, Risk & Insurance, May 1, 2004, page 9.) You base these opinions on the fact that no commercial insurer will cover manned space flight, while bashing the Bush administration in that compensation to the Columbia astronauts was a mere pittance. First, there are no manned commercial space flights for the general public; that goal is not part of the president's space initiative. Second, if you want a manned space flight you must go to the Soviet Union to buy that service, oh the irony of that. Lastly, you don't understand that the president's initiative is to move NASA in other directions beyond the aging Shuttle program and into deep space exploration utilizing new forms of vehicle propulsion.

These changes are exciting and should be embraced instead of looking backwards to telescopes, satellites, and robots as you do. Wake up! As computer advances expand exponentially, man's abilities will be tested academically and in the field to the likes we have not seen since the race to put a man on the moon.

ALAN KORNMAN

Orlando, Fla.