Yak, I completely agree with you. I would gladly spend oodles of tax money on NASA and I am incredibly disappointed to see the Constellation program go by the wayside. I also agree with the fact that NASA's business is very dangerous and it is truly amazing that they have been able to put men and women into space for over 50 years. That being said, NASA has done nothing but lose credibility and public support since the Apollo missions. Hear me out before you jump all over that, but it's simply a statement of fact. During the Cold War, the space race was of utter importance because everyone feared the Soviet bear would be raining down missiles from space. Post Berlin Wall, NASA didn't have much to offer the American public. Yes, the space shuttle, Hubble, the Mars rover, all flashes of genius for NASA, but the populous basically forgot about those programs until they had some sort of catastrophic mishap (as stated above). Look at the post-Apollo 11 Moon missions. Most people in this country probably don't even know we've been to the Moon multiple times. This level of complacency and ignorance with space exploration only heightens the public response when something goes wrong. Yes, NASA has produced many scientific achievements, but unfortunately, these are mostly transparent to the common man. People want the big bang for their taxpayer buck, and unfortunately, in recent years, NASA has failed to provide. What they need right now is public support. Mishaps like this one aren't exactly bolstering their argument for funding. Most people could care less about the space program right now. It's sad but true. Ask around and see how many people know it's in jeopardy right now. Or if they know that the shuttle is going away and we'll be outsourcing our spaceflights to Russia and China. NASA needs to step it up and do something worth saving, or at least make it seem worth saving. To us, yes, we know the importance of NASA, but most people don't. Please don't give me the argument of satellites and the sort, because we all know that most of that is commercialized now anyway. The ball is in NASA's court right now, they need to save themselves. Monkey to the Moon. That'll get the funding.