HOW I FEEL ABOUT THIS depends on how it’s executed:

President Bush wants to send Americans back to the moon — and may leave a permanent presence there — in a bold new vision for space exploration, administration officials said yesterday.

Permanent human presence on the Moon: great. Big NASA project that NASA will screw up: not so great. Likelihood of getting the latter: high. Likelihood of getting the former: Not as high. Likelihood of getting the latter without the former actually coming about: highest.

To NASA: Sorry. I love you guys. But that’s the track record since, oh, sometime before I hit puberty. Or maybe before I learned to walk. Or maybe before I was born. . . .