Europa sounds like a valid and important target for a lander. Just imagine if evidence of life is detected; it would drastically change our perception of our role in the universe. Suddenly we're not the only game in town. Religionists would have to adapt, conspiracists would spin their theories, and money for new expeditions would magically appear.

The question in my mind is, why is this initiative coming from the Congress rather than from the President or from NASA itself? What's happened to our national sense of adventure and exploration?

I remember the space fever of the 1960s and 1970s, and how it faded in the late 70s into a dull pride that we'd built a space bus, albeit a very expensive and compromised design that could take a team to low orbit and not much farther.

I guess we should celebrate the fact that someone with the power to fund new missions into deep space is making it happen, for whatever reason. But I'd like it better if Nasa were getting the kind of funding it really needs and the bold leadership it deserves to accelerate these sorts of spectacular missions that will advance our technologies and inspire more young people to go into the sciences.