I was reading this interview with John Logsdon, an academic and member of the NASA Advisory Board, and in the article he speculates that the death of the seven astronauts who were aboard Columbia will be a setback to the space program because people will question whether it’s worth the risk to send people into space. I hope beyond hope that people don’t have that reaction. Of course travelling into space is risky, the amazing thing is that NASA has made space travel seem not so risky. Were I to venture a guess, I would think that the seven astronauts who risked and ultimately gave their lives in the quest to further human knowledge would not want their legacy to be the temporary end of space travel.