First of all, I really wish that people would stop using the deaths of our astronauts as an argument that NASA should not explore space anymore. Like our troops in Iraq, they willingly put themselves in harm's way. There is nothing routine about strapping yourself to a missile with 8 million pounds of thrust.

Moving on, you throw out some large numbers like $104 billion dollars to go to the moon. Let me give you a small one: Six tenths of 1 percent, that's how much of the national budget we are alotted by our great government to explore space. How about $2 trillion, that's the amount of money we are projected to spend on the war in Iraq, is that a big enough number for you?

The International Space Station is a science platform to further understand the affects of microgravity and the space environment. It's full benefits have not been seen yet because it is not complete with it's construction due to shuttle delays. Like everything else we do, it is a chance to learn and discover new things, and believe it or not, we do learn and discover new things that I think you need to research a little more before you only credit us with velcro and portable computers.

I see too many articles written about NASA from authors without all of the facts. You see large monetary values and dead astronauts, and don't put into perpective what we've accomplished and what we have yet to accomplish.

For anyone else who may read this, I implore you to learn more about the space industry.

The things that our brave astronauts do on a daily basis is nothing short of astounding and deserves more recognition.