Reply #33: I vote to keep NASA as it is...

[Mikimouse]

in terms of funding.I am profoundly curious about what might be 'out there'. The major problem I see in NASA is the fact that the agency has lost its once fabled curiosity, and perhaps some of its imagination as well. I am old enough to remember that earliest days of the space program, and the fact that the scientists involved managed to do what they did without the aid of the types of computers we are writing these notes on; rather, they did everything with slide rules and imagination. When the most important missions can be negatively affected by a inappropriate English/Metric conversion (Mars lander, 1995?, sorry, I remember the incident, but not very well), it demonstrates the complaceny that appears to have become the norm. NASA needs to get rid of the administrative constraints and return to an agency run by scientists.