End Of An Era!!!

[YWD67]

This morning around six am (EST) I was up reading the news on the net down here in Fl. Suddenly a loud resounding boom shook my house and set my pug dog Boris into fit of barking.
The sound was the end of one of America's greates achivements.
An era that I personaly watched from beginning to end.
That era being, U.S. launced manned space flight under NASA.

The Shuttle Atlantis was passing overhead and created one of the loudest Sonic Booms to come from a shuttle on re-entry that I have heard.
It would be the last flight of the Shuttle program, and the end of U.S. lauched manned space flight.

Now we have to hitch a ride into space via the Russian Space Program.

It is like going from driving a Porche to riding in a Pacer.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43835197...science-space/

[RACKnRAIL]

Yeah, I heard that on the news this morning (not the loud bang, but the story). I find the news a bit sad :/

[Atheist Icon]

It is like going from driving a Porche to riding in a Pacer.

Pacer is still too nice to describe what our Astronauts will have to deal with. Yugo is more fitting. Hopefully they will not have to push it into Space.

Still trying to figure out why we got rid of the only Heavy lift delivery system the world has.

[Drew Wilson]

I'm a little worried that it's because too many people were saying:
"Oh, the private sector will handle it."
"Have faith in private business."
"Businesses will take it from here. Don't worry, it's the magic of the market place."

Space exploration is a long term endeavor that takes years. Businesses powerful enough to launch in to space only care about the next quarter profits. I think that'll be a disconnect that'll stop space exploration in its tracks for several years.

[sygreenblum]

Sad day indeed. Now with the James Webb telescope all but cancelled and no real Hubble replacement, NASA has certainly seen better days.

While the shuttle program was very expensive and limited, I think it was idiotic to terminate the program before a viable alternative was in place, and you know the Russians will certainly use this as leverage. Space technology sure feels like its moving backwards and

[pcsservices]

Hi ! First Post here!

Guess I will just dive right in. . . .

It is sad to see the Space Shuttle go but I see it as necessary.

That is - the space shuttle was limited to skipping in and out of the earth's atmosphere, orbiting, that sort of thing. The future of space flight is out towards Mars and beyond! It doesn't make any sense to spend precious resources on a space vehicle with limited capability.

Just about every day the history channel puts on a show showing how the earth will be destroyed by a comet, asteroid, ice age, solar rays, super volcanoes, and on and on . . .

I am not an alarmist or anything but a lot of this stuff is not if - but when. My experience in IT tells me that we need a backup of the human race stored somewhere offsite . . . . errr . . .. offworld.

If nothing replaces the space shuttle then yes this sucks. If this means we start on a journey to build a ship capable of doing more than just bring up the groceries to the space station then I am all for it. Something like this could take several hundred years to build so hitching a ride with the Russians for a few years is no big deal. . . .

So yes - stop spending anything on the space shuttle and start working on the warp drive. . . .

Beam me up Scotty.