The End of an Era

[Ayiekie]

I'd have to disagree on the sentiment. Not only is manned exploration of space kind of a giant boondoggle (there is essentially nothing that cannot be done far more cheaply and safely with robotics), even if manned space travel ought to be pursued, the space shuttle is not a good platform to do it on. They cost too much and have demonstrably not been safe enough. Many times things have been done with shuttles that could have been done far more cheaply without them just to justify the shuttle program's existence and the money spent on it. This is not to say they were all bad, but it really is time they were put to bed and hopefully replaced with a superior, safer, cheaper delivery system.