Space Shuttle - End of...

[Neil]

Quite sad really :(

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14220423

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/53952000/jpg/_53952076_012406203.jpg

[Legion2213]

Watched the first ever launch and watched many launches after it...it never got stale. Spectacular machine, end of an era.

[Neil]

Watched the first ever launch and watched many launches after it...it never got stale. Spectacular machine, end of an era.

An epic machine indeed! There's a documentary on over here in the UK on Saturday night! Will definately be watching!

[MikePizzoff]

My Mom went into labor with me at Cape Canaveral hospital as Discovery made it's very first launch. I will always find that awesome.

[clanglee]

I remember watching the first space shuttle launch from the beach when I was 6 years old. Sad to see the era end, but honestly. . it's time we focused on something different now. We have stagnated on space travel. Hopefully this will get us going again.

[wayzim]

I remember watching the first space shuttle launch from the beach when I was 6 years old. Sad to see the era end, but honestly. . it's time we focused on something different now. We have stagnated on space travel. Hopefully this will get us going again.

Another sad truth is that if we'd kept on going with the X series ( since Chuck Yeager first broke the Sound Barrier ) we'd have had a real space plane before now. Unfortunately it was vetoed in favor of The Shuttle program - which ultimately turned much more costly than imagined at the time.
Wayne Z

[Neil]

Professor Logsdon, a former director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University, agrees.

"We've gotten ourselves into a rather stupid situation of ending shuttle flights without a clear path to a reaplacement and without a sense of the long-range future of the programme. It's really rather deplorable." he told BBC News.

"I was a member of board that investigated the Columbia accident in 2003, and we said in our report the lack of a shuttle replacement was a failure of national leadership. Here we are eight years later and we still don't have a shuttle replacement," Prof Logsdon said.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14219478

[Eyebiter]

Visited NASA last year when they had two shuttles on the launch pad for the last time. Even then you could tell the long time NASA employees and contractors were getting nervous about the end of the shuttle program.

At the time they were hyping the Constellation rocket program and the Orion capsule. Basically a larger version of the Apollo capsule outfitted with modern electronics. The party line was the shuttle could only access low earth orbit. If the US plans a manned mission to return to the moon or Mars, this crew vehicle and rocket system would allow future manned deep space missions.

The Constellation program with it's two different Ares rockets appears to be yet another make work program for the aerospace industry. Over the last twenty years there have been several programs like this that NASA dumps a significant amount of R&D funding into only shelve the project before any flight tests are made. Which is why it was cancelled in fiscal year 2011.

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Constellation_program

The Delta IV rocket is very reliable, currently tasked with unmanned satellite launches for the US military. There are several variants including a heavy version that can substantial payload. Don't be surprised if the US develops a manned crew vehicle using this rocket in the near future.