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• Position: Brief article

Ask an astronaut if they would be willing to go on a mission to Mars that had a probability of success of 80 percent. I don't think any of them would say no.... The explorers of the New World, the Nile, the South Pole--they would all hang their head in shame at the pansies we've become.

--Reddit commenter "pkaro" in response to "How Much Is an Astronaut's Life Worth?"

reason magazine's February issue on space is terrific.

--Instapundit's Glenn Reynolds

The problem here is that NASA is a political agency, not a scientific one. Each year, elected politicians sit down and decide how much they're going to get. This means the number one rule is don't make us look bad. You can't waste too much money, you can't go making a...