Enterprise @NYC
Photo: Space Shuttle Enterprise Arrives in New York
“Space shuttle Enterprise, mounted atop a NASA 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA), is seen off in the distance behind the Statue of Liberty, Friday, April 27, 2012, in New York. Enterprise was the first shuttle orbiter built for NASA performing test flights in the atmosphere and was incapable of spaceflight.”
Looking at the way things are progressing now, it may be another 20-30 years before any country can put anything close to the class of the Shuttle in space.The Lady was way ahead of her time, and retired way sooner than she should have been…. She had another 20 years of great flights ahead of her. I sit at times and wonder, does anyone in this country, this government, the people, really care about space travel anymore??? Hunker down and get over the small things… yes we are all having problems right now. But has everyone given up on what might be?? What could be???
What saddens me is what we could have done with all those billions that went into the shuttle program. We could have gone so much farther than LEO if we hadn’t tried to build one launch vehicle that was all things to all people.
Not that SLS is any better, but maybe someday we can get over the habit of over-spending for more launch vehicle than we need and focus on exploration instead of launch vehicles.