Senator John Glenn's ascent into the heavens today has little to do with his official duties - to establish the effect of zero gravity on his 77-year-old body - and everything to do with budget dollars and NASA's dream of building a space station, industry analysts said.
The venerable national hero will take his second space flight 36 years after becoming the first American in orbit, at a time when NASA is facing a midlife crisis.
It is searching for new ways to inspire US taxpayers as it struggles to finance its part in building the station and to prop up its beleaguered Russian partners.
Mr Glenn's participation in the flight aboard the space shuttle Discovery has rekindled the jaded US public's interest in the space programme, reminding them of the pioneer days of the Mercury rockets, when the US was deep in a space race with the Soviet Union.
Since then, the adversary has become a burden. NASA asked Congress earlier this month for $660 million to buy space hardware for the Russians, and to help launch the first component for the international space station next month. A few weeks later it asked for extra money for its own launch of the station's second building block.
NASA's administrator, Mr Daniel Goldin, warned that the entire $50 billion project would have to be abandoned if the funds were not forthcoming.
The timing of the senator's flight could not have been better. More than 300,000 people are expected to arrive in Florida to watch the launch. President Clinton and a large congressional delegation are also scheduled to attend. And 3,000 journalists along with dozens of satellite dishes have crowded into the Kennedy Space Centre. Even the veteran TV newscaster, Walter Cronkite, has been brought out of retirement to supply television commentary, adding to the wistful atmosphere.
There has been a crescendo of carping about Mr Glenn's participation after the announcement last week that an unnamed fitness problem would prevent him from carrying out one of the ageing experiments he was supposed to conduct.
But his supporters point out that he will not be the first politician in space. Senator Jake Garn was a passenger on a 1985 shuttle flight intended to raise NASA's profile. He spent much of the 17-day mission throwing up into a bag. Mr Glenn, at least, is a space veteran.