Today the Augustine Commission chaired its first set of hearings, in a highly anticipated and busy schedule packed with as many earnest ideas as there were eager attendees. This milestone event promised speaker after speaker each presenting a respectably objective, well-considered point of view. What was not promised but nevertheless delivered was the serial sticking of well-phrased stilettos into the current crumbling architecture. The faults of Ares, brought finally out from under the hood, finally came into fierce contrast with the slew of alternative plans presented in open forum. That was for the good.

As if to emphasize the importance of the hearings, STS-127 failed to launch only hours earlier amidst a torrential backdrop of almost divinely dramatic thunder and lightning. For the second time inside a week the lift-off of Endeavour was scrubbed when hydrogen began to leak inexplicably during fueling. This recently recurring venting system has become an embarrassing problem for the shuttle, a reminder of the difficulty and complexity of rocket science, and now work must begin to correct the underlying cause of these annoying failures.

My understanding, which is often and likely this time wrong, is that the equipment used to test this attachment has already been destroyed, scratched out by the fingernails from the departing old guard, along with the workforce that mastered it. And that is for the bad. Endeavour of course was posed to rescue Atlantis during her recent Hubble repair mission, as the press reminded us repeatedly. So the unasked question becomes (which better well be asked), what would have happened had something gone wrong with Atlantis and the rescue mission been necessary? A hydrogen leak is about as dangerous as the rocket business gets! Yet there is absolutely no logic (though there might be will) in risking two crews to save one. We just got mighty lucky.

The commission must consider any possible options to ensure that US space efforts continue to lead, and equally if not more important to retain those human skills and technology that make that possible. What we need is something safe, simple, and - as highlighted in public comment after the hearing - soon. The trust of the public now hinges on the Commission's report, united in aspiration towards resuming American space exploration as rapidly as possible (i.e., no gap). To miss this opportunity and be shut into LEO for another generation if not more is unacceptable. The attempts to cover up the mess under the rug of inadequate management are over. No better day for a rescue.