With all respect, Mr. Augustine, now is not the time for the commission to recommend asking the taxpayers for *more* money. NASA has a credibility gap with the American taxpayer when it comes to manned spaceflight systems. Public support for Bush's plan is already underwhelming - let's not make that problem worse by immediately asking for more money.

Shuttle never achieved its pie-in-the-sky cost estimates, but its hopelessly complex (and misguided) design doomed it from the start. Station was/is way over budget, but most in the community now appreciate the detrimental budgetary effect of endless legislative redesigns. Surely we can achieve the President's vision in more intelligent ways than asking for more money before we even get started.

I watched Augustine's testimony in full, and I did appreciate the perspective he shared on the perceived "Peace Dividend" that many expected at the end of the Cold War. He said that the dividend *did* occur, but NASA didn't get the piece of the pie that many expected it would. Let's not forget this lesson as we start to harvest the "Shuttle/Station Dividend" over the next 10 years. We've all got a job to do - let's not burn that dividend with space pork that's unrelated to the President's vision.

Has it been painful to experience 30+ years of no meaningful space vision? Yes it has. So let's not go there again. Let's be good stewards of the vision in this second chance we're being given.