NASA president sends greetings to space from Austrian

Goldin needed nothing more than the hotel phone to contact the International Space Station with its three astronauts, he said in an interview published in Austrian newspapers. "We called the control center at Houston, and they linked us up there," he said.

At the small Alpine resort of Damuels in the western province of Vorarlberg, 60-year-old Goldin spoke of his goals for the future. He said he was determined that men would be sent to Mars.

"That's been my dream since I was a child. It will be more than ten years and less than 25," he predicted.

There were still formidable problems, such as fuel, food and water for the astronauts during their marathon flight, getting oxygen from the Martian atmosphere, and not least the cost of the mission. Turning to the present, the NASA chief was asked about the danger of an uncontrolled plunge of the Russian Mir space station through the atmosphere to Earth.

He merely said NASA had "encouraged" the Russians to get Mir down as quickly as possible. "Everything else is the responsibility of the Russians now."

Goldin said he had found his skiing resort on the recommendation of Austria's only astronaut, Franz Viehboeck, and French astronaut Jean-Loup Chretien. He particularly valued Damuels for its peace and quiet. dpa qu vc

(bb/dpa)