We need the same urgency and esprit and discipline that the Apollo program had. It's a good thing to do, but we could have been more honest about it. You need to get it on the table and talk authentically about what you're doing. Even if the medical data is just a single point, it contributes to the overall meaning of space flight. The reason we're in space is it's an inward turn.
People are after meaning and hope.
It's about the human spirit, the quest. If we're not questing, it gets boring. It has to touch 'em. It may be that Glenn's return to space will focus attention on what NASA is not doing as well as what it is doing. It does not, for example, seem to have grabbed the interest of Generation X. Former NASA historian Roland says his students at Duke show little interest in NASA or the Russian Mir space station.