Stephen Baxter's novel "Titan" published in 1997, is based on the premise that the Cassini probe which launched in 1997 and is due to arrive at Saturn next year (2004), discovers evidence for life on Titan.

Starting in 2004 and 2005, the NASA is going to pot. The shuttle Columbia crashes, grounding the shuttle fleet. Pseudo science, new-age mysticism and fundamentalism are rampant. An ultraconservative presidential candidate is thinking of shutting down NASA, or transferring it to the Department of Agriculture. Then a JPL researcher proposes sending a manned mission to Titan, using existing shuttle and space station components.

Reading the novel is eerie, after the Columbia crash. But the novel also has some spectacular misses, like working VR, a real cyberspace network and digital paper, but it reads like a plausible alternate future.

It is at the same time a depressing look at how bad things could get (our local legislature is holding hearings on "Indigo children", and is trying to outlaw genetic engineering), and a reminder of the great things we can accomplish when we drive forward with determination.