When the shuttle management announced a "grounding of the Shuttle fleet" due to the foam breaking off the external tank PAL ramp, I thought about Eugene F. Kranz and the Apollo program. Gene said during the Apollo 13 mission (and movie), "Failure is not an option."
Gene said in his op-ed that we took many steps in the Gemini missions to achieve a successful space walk. Buzz Aldrin's space walk in Gemini 12 NASA succeeded. Astronauts now train underwater to learn how to move in outer space because of Buzz's insistence to train for space walks.
We have to take many steps to get it right. Exploration is trial and error. Just look at our past and you'll see many failures and many successes. Our space program is too important to our Nation to just give up.
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