Endeavour space shuttle makes last touch-down

[Platapus]

Originally Posted by mookiemookie

I doubt this will be the end of space travel for the U.S. I believe there will be a next generation space shuttle at some point. It may not happen for a while, but I think the desire for that sort of scientific research and understanding is too strong to keep us grounded or reliant upon the Russians.

Exactly, some people think that this the end of the US space program.

The STS was a compromise design and frankly was not the optimum platform. In a car analogy, we are in the Model T eara. Should we have stuck with the model T for the next 90 years? Of course not.

Well the STS was the Model T of space exploration. Time to move on to the next model. Hopefully politics won't force this new program to be as much a compromise program as the STS, but that's politics for you.

Right now, we have a way of getting to the ISS. The US does not need to build a new system to get humans to the ISS. We need to build a new system capable of more than the existing STS. And that will take time, which we have plenty of, and money which we ain't got at this time.