When learning recently that this country wants to put a man back on the moon within five years, I was very pleased.

Until I heard the words “ambitious goal “ used by the administration.

Doesn’t that put NASA in a very bad situation again? If the money is appropriated, NASA will be under the gun to accomplish the task because the administration has set a specific timeline.

This was proven in the Challenger disaster of 1986 when the night before the launch, five engineers from Morton Thiokol tried to stop the launch but were overruled by NASA. The engineers had scientific proof that certain rubber seals on the shuttle’s booster would not seal properly in the temperature that was present at launch time. NASA wanted the launch and overruled them.

NASA has no one to blame but themselves for the deaths of all those crew members. They could have rescheduled the launch. You hire experts to do a job and then they tell you when something is wrong and you ignore them.

Let’s put a man on the moon when we are scientifically and safely ready, not because we have to meet political pressure. This country never seems to learn anything from past disasters.

Alan Brown

Fall River