OpEd: Exploration Goals

In response to Donald Beattie’s reopened discussion of our nation’s vision for space exploration [“Letter: Are NASA’s Space Exploration Goals Right?” July 10, page 18], I think it’s important to look at the fundamental characteristics of true exploration. As demonstrated by Christopher Columbus, Lewis and Clark, and most recently Wernher von Braun, true exploration requires two lead roles: the undaunted explorer with a vision and a true desire to go where no one has ever gone before; and the financier to make it happen.