In the shuttle we have the finest flying machine thatâ??s ever been designed and flown. One of the greatest engineering feats in recent history has been the assembling of the International Space Station, which could not have been done without the shuttle. The shuttle is now in the prime of its life. We suffered through a few mistakes and a couple of tragedies, weâ??ve paid our dues. Itâ??s not even at the half way point of the shuttleâ??s design life, and weâ??re taking them and putting them into museums. Weâ??re left without the capability of getting into space for an undefined period of time, and for me that is unacceptable. Weâ??re also leaving the space station without any ship, from anywhere, with the capability to carry a heavy payload should it be necessary in the next 10 years. I donâ??t understand the decision to leave this country in that physical state in terms of access to space. The space station is the only game in town. The shuttle doesnâ??t take us to the moon, which of course Iâ??m a big advocate of returning to, but for what it was designed to do itâ??s now doing extremely well, like no other spacecraft has done in history in terms of size and capability.
Read Full Article »
