NASA's Bridges speaks in Gainesville

GAINESVILLE - The Director of NASA's Langley Research Center, speaking in Gainesville Tuesday, defended the nation's space program against those who say it is too risky in light of the Columbia tragedy.

"Thank God," Roy Bridges said, "our forefathers weren't too worried about risk."

Bridges, a Gainesville native and former astronaut, in a speech to the Gainesville Kiwanis Club, cited as examples the first settlers in this country and the pioneers who settled the West.

"We (NASA) can't afford a zero-risk program."

"We can," Bridges said, "afford to manage the risks - and minimize those risks as much as possible."

After his speech, Bridges said current plans call for shuttle flights, grounded since the Columbia explosion in February 2002, to return to space in April. However, he said that is now contingent on how much damage the Kennedy Space Center suffered from Hurricane Frances which slammed into the space coast last weekend.

During his speech, Bridges rattled off a list of benefits the U.S. space program has had on mankind as a whole. He said every dollar spent in space returns seven dollars on earth - and the program has provided everything from "weather pictures to cancer research."