Recently, the Shuttle turned into a two-edged sword, in my perception. I grew up with its announcement and then first missions launched, when I was a schoolboy. It was exciting, fascinating, it had magic. But this article:
http://www.welt.de/wissenschaft/welt...le-Traums.html
taught me that it was anything but magioc, but was a royal economic disaster that did not held the promises for cost reduction that it's defenders promised, also it was not as trend-forming as claimed, it was a pürogram poorly managed and technical maintencnes was overly complictaed due to it having allowed to turn into an overly complicated machine.
My heart is pro shuttle, but my mind, if this article points out correct facts, necessarily must be asking qhy it has not been buried many years earlier. They quote a US poll on the most appreciated acchievements of American space program in that article, and to my surprise the Shuttle just made fourth place (I expected it on two, behind the moon landing).
It was terribly expensive, it hgelped to turn NASA fiancnes into what they are now, and it did not deliver to all the promsies that were made. Also, it consumed too many of NASA's resources for too long - resources whose lacking investement into non-Shuttle issues NASA is feeling now. Let'S face it - it is high time that the shuttle gets buried.It seems it already stayed far too long.
But the heart is bleeding, yes, I admit that. But more important are the questions:
What now, Nasa? and
How to pay for it?
I'm currently reading "Limit", the latest blockbuster thriller by German author Frank Schätzing, the guy behind "Der Schwarm" (a book I have read four times in three years). There they have build the spacelift into geostationary orbit, and private companies have left states and nations (and especially NASA) behind with their ambitious space programs, running much , more efficient because they bypass the bureaucratic hurdles and political inefficiency. Like often with Schätzing, whose later books are a mixture of fact-oriented science report, science fiction and thrill, I think that he probably forsees things correctly in this regard.
Nice to read, btw, it is pulling you through those 1300 pages of "Limit" like nothing. Recommended for German readers if you seek for some entertaining reading. Schätzing really knows how to do it. But if it will become as thrilling as "Der Schwarm", remains to be seen...
