Dale I agree with almost everything you've said. Yes, people are really underestimating the hazards and cost of space travel. Also: even though it may look like nobody's making money through space exploration, someone is still paying for it (which is my main point). Even though there may not be a profit in the classic sense, there will eventually be a political pressure to stop it when the tax policy cannot justify the expense (and there WILL be expense). My hunch is E.T. folks (if they exist) would be facing exactly the same economic constraints that we are facing here on earth. I think we should stop discussing the UFOs in abstract, as thought these fantastic machines (if they exist) are a dime a dozen in the rest of the endless universe. I'm pretty sure they are not. COST of something is as universal a concept as the speed of light.