Astronauts accept risk

Re “The wrong stuff,” editorial, July 28

Your armchair quarterbacking of NASA’s space shuttle program is a joke. It simply is not possible to engineer a perfect, 100% systems performance flight to escape Earth’s atmosphere at speeds reaching 17,500 mph. Each astronaut is a realist in addition to a scientist, understands this, and bravely accepts the risk. We should be grateful for their courage and the efforts of all NASA engineers and planners for moving ahead after the tragedy of Columbia. Humanity is reaching for the stars. Join us, or sit back and keep sniping at perceived “failures” with your pen. Your story will not be history’s.

Russ Wilson

San Diego