Oh yeah, that's something to aim for.

NASA is busy gutting its world-beating science missions to pay for a high-definition re-run of the 1960s Apollo missions. What little's left over is shared between the twin white elephants of the ISS and the Shuttle. The former existing solely to act as a destination for the latter - a relic of the 1960s that can't fly if its too hot, too cold, too windy, rainy, foggy or dark.

The last thing the UK needs right now is its own agency to match NASA.

Hell the last thing *America* needs right now is NASA.

The Right Stuff got up and left the building about the time the last Apollo mission set down on the Moon, since then NASA has been a lobbying effort in Washington with a few shiny toys down at Kennedy.

Seriously, do we really need a Space agency? Yet again we want something becuase the US has it.

We tried, we made the Beagle, which buggered up most spectacularly. I for one dont want to see an increase in taxes because we want to outdo Mr Bush.

Why not sort out Hospitals first? or Schools? or Immigration? or people scamming Benefit?

We've got enough problems this side of the stratosphere thank you very much, deal with those first, then and only then starting making bloody strange decisions to fire people into space or restrict how I listen to my music.

'We've got enough problems this side of the valley/mountain/river/ocean thank you very much, deal with those first...'