"Discovery is home"

Thank you God for bringing this crew home safe.

What started off with a scrubbed launch, flying debris, a repair done to the orbiter in space, and a questionable piece of fabric hanging off the orbiter left many people thinking the end of NASA has passed. Critics of the program will only tell you what problems the Discovery shuttle faced in the wake of the Columbia disaster over two years ago. What a waste of breath, too. Look at what they overcame to touch ground safe and prove to everyone who ever doubte the space program that this flight would be successful.

Looking ahead to the future of NASA, sure, go ahead and look at the problems Discovery had this time and make sure they don't happen again, but remember the benefits of the shuttle program and build from it. NASA can ground Discovery and Atlantis now, but put them back in orbit until a better orbiter is built, or even build a new orbiter.

So many of the shuttle and post-shuttle generations don't care about the space program now due to lack of accomplishments in the program. Today was a major accomplishment, maybe going down in history with some of the Apollo missions. Do your children care about this? Do you remember wanting to grow up to be like Buzz? Now does your daughter aspire to become Eileene Collins? How about your son and Steve Robinson? Do your children even know about the Apollo missions? If you're answer is no, the no, NASA's Space Program won't continue when they grow up so enjoy the shuttle flights now. Go get some popcorn, Tivo it, and download it to your computer because after the critics of today warp the young minds that don't care already, you're lucky if you see Atlantis touch the launchpad.