playing the odds

I know astronauts are brave and are well aware that they have a risky profession. But I'd be particularly worried if I were on today's scheduled launch. Engineers and top managers are worried that the Discovery's fuel tanks might be exposed, and NASA chief Michael Griffin himself even says they are "playing the odds" with this.

Good luck and safe mission, Discovery crew. But regardless of whether the seven astronauts going up today come back down safely, the Shuttle program should be ended. It is 1970s technology, terribly expensive to operate, and sucks up a huge chunk of NASA's budget. I support manned space flight, but we need to start over and ditch the Shuttle.