Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.issues From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: issues Tue, Mar 24 1992 Date: Tue, 24 Mar 92 05:43:45 EST Message-ID: 03-24 0000 DECISIONLINE: Issues & Debate USA TODAY Update March 24, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network Here are some of the issues and topics being debated across the nation Tuesday morning in USA TODAY: NASA; Flying. TODAY'S DEBATE - NASA: USA TODAY'S OPINION: Russia's space store is open for business. Talent, technology and hardware are on sale at bargain prices. NASA should do some shopping. While the USA builds the graceful gazelles of space travel, the former Soviets built the reliable, plodding bears. Today, despite financial and political chaos, their rocket fleets and space power plants are unparalleled. Their Mir space station is only one of its kind. Our shuttles have chronic fuel leaks, a problem that grounded the Atlantis yesterday. By adding reliable Russian rockets to its fleet, NASA could ensure its missions get off on time. Building our own space station, for instance, will cost about $30 billion, and it wouldn't be finished until the year 2000. Buying the less sophisticated Mir would cost about $700 million. Buying services it provides would be even cheaper. ... If NASA chooses to pursue its goals of landing on Mars, colonizing the moon and finishing our space station, then using Russian technology could speed the process and cut the costs. Browsing won't get us far, but some serious shopping might. OTHER VIEW: DAN WARRENSFORD, a Merritt Island, Fla., aerospace engineer and a columnist for Florida Today: Competition among grand-touring prototype sports cars is a study in quickness, reliability, finesse; super-fast circuits in the danger zone; operation on the cutting edge. Would anyone suggest requiring some of the teams to use 18-wheelers? Then why, in the name of Wernher von Braun, would we think of forcing NASA to buy, lease or borrow space trucks from the former Soviet Union? Sure, Soviet equipment has proved to be relatively durable, and boring, circling near Earth. But our objective is far outside Earth orbit. We have to muster 21st century ideas. NASA's gray-matter guidance has to be programmed for the edge of the solar system - and beyond. VOICES ACROSS THE NATION ON FLYING IN BAD WEATHER: WISCONSIN RAPIDS, Wis., Nancy Muhl, 46, nursing instructor: My brother is a very conscientious private pilot. Hearing him talk about all the training, preparations and weather info they get, I feel confident. I flew with him once in dense fog and didn't panic -I felt safe. Flying is safer than driving, and I just leave it to the experts. LOS ANGELES, Calif., Arlen Chou, 24, legislative aide: Actually, there is rarely bad weather here in southern California. The worst we get is a little rain now and then. So it has never occurred to me to change my travel or flight plans because of bad weather. SARASOTA, Fla., Gerry Tausch, 61, professional speaker: I mostly worry about the plane being de-iced after sitting on the ground for a while in bad weather. But I love what I do so much that I have to make up my mind whether there's a price I want to pay. My decision is to go, no matter what. GREELEY, Colo., Paul Retzlaff, 35, psychology professor: I know that, statistically I'm better off in the air than in a car. But even I have to worry when the weather turns foul, the airport is closed and Denver ices up. WHEELING, W.Va., Loma Nevels, 43, water dept. supervisor: I fly constantly. When it's your time to go, you go, so I don't worry about. The good records of flying outweigh the bad. As a matter of fact, I'm flying somewhere next month. I'm not going to let it worry me. Issues & Debate Editor: Michele Coleman. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM