NASA announced, after a meeting in Florida among all of the participating countries (United States, Russia, Europe, Japan and Canada), that a new plan for the completing the $100 billion International Space Station (ISS) was worked out. NASA indicated that it would take 16 flights of the space shuttle (Atlantis, Discovery and Endeavour) in order to deliver equipment and materials needed to complete the various components of the ISS.

Of course this has resulted in some controversy among scientists, engineers and managers. At a hearing in Washington, some members of Congress expressed concern over the loss of research projects and the disruption of project teams. At the hearing, some scientists argued that NASA was sacrificing small space projects valuable for training graduate students and advancing science to sustain some big programs. Others said the United States was risking its leadership in space science.

This is a difficult issue. We want the Space Station completed. It will be useful to future space research projects, and it will be used for future expeditions to the moon and beyond. Yet, some say that the continued costs associated with the Space Station are impacting science research projects.

One of the key issues here is what are NASA’s goals for the future of space research and exploration, and do these goals. This past year, out of the blue, the Bush Administration announced plans for putting astronauts on Mars in this new century. NASA has been plaqued for nearly two decades with two space shuttle disasters, each of which appeared to caused by the mis-management at the highest levels of NASA. What is driving NASA at this time? Have we really reached any kind of a consensus on goals that should drive NASA in the future? When NASA announces that it going to make 16 launches of the Orbiter, one has to raise questions.