The Space Shuttle Catastrophe Off Cape Canaveral
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The tragic event in Florida bequeathed to all of humankind a good incalculable value, the sure knowledge that we cannot place any reliance on the Strategic Defense Initiative.
Compared to the Strategic Defense Initiative, the space shuttle is virtually a trivial system. If the shuttle can fail, unexpectedly and (perhaps) inexplicably, and with so small a price as seven human lives, what can we expect to pay--10 million lives? Fifty million?--for the certain failure of the infinitely more complex SDI--which must not fail if it is to be of any use at all?
ROBERT M. GORDON
Beverly Hills
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