Space Exploration Invests in Our Future

Re “Photos Show Mars Rover Hit ‘Scientific Sweet Spot,’ ” Jan. 5: The U.S. manned space program is lost in space and going nowhere. What has happened to NASA’s technological mastery of human space flight? Astronaut Neil Armstrong took the first step on the moon 34 years ago. I look up at the moon and wonder when we will go back. I look up at Mars and wonder whether we’ll ever get there.

NASA needs to set new goals, with safety as its primary mission. The space shuttle is unsafe, obsolete and should be replaced. If John F. Kennedy, Wernher von Braun and Carl Sagan were alive today, we probably would be walking on the surface of Mars by now. Let’s keep the dream alive!

Rick Schreiner

Pasadena

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We at Boeing have a special interest in the Mars Exploration Rover. I looked in on the JPL control room via the NASA channel during the entry, descent and landing phase Saturday. The Delta II launch vehicle that delivered Spirit to the Martian surface was built here in the greater L.A. area, at Rocketdyne and in Huntington Beach. We appreciate the fact that NASA chose the Delta vehicle.

Jerre Reimers

I.T. Program/Process

Interface, Boeing Co.

Canoga Park