As NASA continues to consider whether or not to have the space shuttle Discovery land or send a backup shuttle to pick up crew members from last Tuesday's flight, it is time to look at both the agency's future and that of manned space flight.

The last week has been full of what-ifs over the shedding of the protective foam that broke away around the external fuel tank about two minutes after Discovery's launch. And while such exercises can be useful, what is more important is where the program goes from here, especially since NASA has grounded future shuttle missions until the issue is resolved.

NASA has been right to say that they erred on this issue of the protective foam. They did not believe it was a problem, checking its potential dangers off the list long before last week's flight. How that occurred is worth investigating. But a bigger problem for NASA is the aging shuttle fleet.

President George W. Bush has set 2010 for the retirement of the remaining shuttles. By that time they will have been in service for almost three decades. That, in itself, is one of the biggest problems with NASA's, Washington's and the nation's commitment to space. The shuttle was designed as an experimental craft, a step in the process to upgrade and build other reusable craft. In evolutionary terms, it was supposed to be the beginning, just like Mercury, which was followed by Gemini and Apollo. And while NASA will say that these space shuttles are just a "step along the road," American manned space exploration has been stalled for nearly two decades.

NASA has not built the political and public support base needed to move toward more versatile craft, which could be used for going beyond the earth's inner orbit to service satellites, telescopes and the International Space Station. The human exploration portion of NASA's mission seems to be just marking time. Sure, the president has outlined goals for the moon and Mars. Sure, the space station is being built. But these are items that have either been on the drawing board for some time or have been slower to reach completion than expected.

NASA's grounding of shuttles creates other problems for the agency and its goals. On Sunday's Meet the Press, NASA administrator Michael D. Griffin said that he hopes for another 19 or 20 shuttle flights by 2010 to complete the space station and to upgrade the Hubble telescope. What happens if NASA can't fix the external tank issue?

NASA and the nation have failed to develop and bring on-line the next generation of spacecraft and needs to do so. While the will to fly is strong, to move forward beyond the earth's orbit, whether it is to the moon or to Mars, requires more than a commitment of will - it requires dollars.

Cosentino is a former mayor of the city of Auburn and can be

e-mailed at cozguytho@aol.com