Sean O’Keefe needs to have his attitude adjusted.

Even in the wake of the Columbia shuttle disaster, NASA needs humans to do things in space that robotic missions can’t do, space agency Administrator Sean O’Keefe told lawmakers Wednesday.

“We know the lesson from this terrible accident is not to turn our backs on exploration simply because it is hard or risky,” O’Keefe said. “As John Shedd wrote about the age of ocean exploration, `A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.’ ”

Nice quote, but as long as you allow people to continue to keep the debate on the basis of exploration, the robot guys are going to win every time. You need to start talking about space development, and civilizing the wilderness.