Beyond the Horizon: The Future of Space Exploration

A spaceship can carry fragile human life far beyond the bonds of Earth. But spacecrafts always carry human aspirations. They are a symbol of hope and ambition and confidence in our capacity to move up and beyond all that we know.

But before the weekend's Columbia disaster, and the endless footage of sad debris falling from the sky, when was the last time you focused on America's space program? On the country's real long-term goals in space?

Tonight, we look at the future of space exploration. We ask what we're really doing up there, and what we want to be doing. And, even as the nation prepares to honor the brave astronaut dead, we will ask some tough questions about whether the space shuttle is the right instrument for America's goals in space.

Tonight, On Point: rethinking the final frontier.

Guests:

Andy Chaikin, science writer and author, "Man on the Moon" and "Space: A History of Space Exploration in Photographs"

John Logsdon, director of the Space Policy Institute, George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs and author of "The Decision to Go to the Moon: Project Apollo and the National Interest"

Ted Postol, professor of science technology and national security policy at MIT and is on sabbatical at the Institute for International Studies at Stanford University