EDITORIAL: Don't give up on U.S. leadership in space.(Editorial)

Sep. 15--Even with Washington submerged in red ink, it would be historically shortsighted to give up on decades of U.S. leadership in space travel and exploration. A presidential commission led by retired Lockheed Martin CEO Norm Augustine says NASA would need $3 billion more a year over the next decade for manned exploration beyond low-Earth orbit. That represents less than 0.1 percent of the federal budget. Of course, NASA could save money if it settled only for robotic space exploration. But while robots are an essential and cost-effective part of America's space program, history shows that manned exploration better captures the public imagination as it extends the limits of …