What if the shuttle never flew again?

[Gazz]

By Leonard David

Senior space writer

NASA's human spaceflight workforce is hard at work attempting to get the space shuttle program back to flying status. But grasping at the Return to Flight (RTF) shuttle straw is proving elusive.

Both inside and outside NASA, there are worries among the workforce that the more time the shuttle fleet sits grounded, other trouble spots may materialize. And if the RTF crusade stretches out month after month, and costs to counter those problems mount, the overall desire to fly the shuttle again could erode.

Being the "can do" agency it is, NASA is tackling a large "must do" list of technical issues to get a shuttle airborne.

NASA is also abiding by the White House space goals outlined by President George W. Bush in mid-January that include returning the shuttle to flight as soon as possible, but retire from service the space plane by 2010, the same year when the assembly of the International Space Station (ISS) is to be completed.

While all this is going on, the President also asked NASA to start fleshing out a human return to the Moon and planting humans on Mars over the next couple of decades.

If NASA is unable to return the shuttle to flight, will the public question how the same agency could ever be capable of transporting people back to the Moon, on to Mars and beyond?......

Full Report Link: From MSNBC.com

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Interesting, abandon the space shuttle

and save the billions for real space

exploration.

In my opinion the space shuttle has

been a waste of time and money for many

years now.

I think of the things we could have done

without the shuttle program.

Last report I read it cost over $550,000,000

Just to launch the shuttle into orbit

ONE TIME.

Gazz

[Athlon64]

I suspect that the only reason left for the Shuttle's existence is the completion of ISS.....and that's an awful lot of money to waste.