Letters

"Whitey" Wrong

In response to Gil Scott-Heron's anguished and misdirected racism in "Whitey on the Moon" - does this mean that Ronald McNair and his colleagues on the Challenger died in vain?

Ronald E. McNair, Ph.D., Mission Specialist, became an astronaut in 1978. During Shuttle mission 41 -B, McNair operated the Canadian arm in the first use of the Manned Maneuvering Unit. He had 191 hours in space.

NASA's budget is less than 1% of the national budget, and would run the Dept. of Health and man Services for less than nine days. As one of the ríchest nations on earth, we carry a heavy responsibility to feed and house the poor of this nation and the world. But if we use the money we now spend on space technology on direct humanitarian aid, that means that we will not invest in everyone's future, therefore in the long run, everyone will be worse off.

There have been three large meteorites this year that have barely missed the earth, and there are undoubtedly more. An advanced space program could deflect these meteorites, but when one of them hits earth, we will all die. It is not an either/or choice. It is a necessity that we fuif II our responsibilities both to people who are less fortúnate than ourselves and to future generations.

Tihamer Toth-Fejel

ANN ARBOR, MI