Will You Miss the Space Shuttle or Was it a Waste of Money?

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We have to do something with our military
When we KILL IT. For Die it MUST Either by Budget
or by hatcket it will Die and as for Me I will once more
be a proud AMERICAN when i can say No BOMBS are dropping
on Little boys and little girls.
Give those Geniuses in the Pentagon a Goal of safely concouring
another planet as this one can not afford it.

jon of HI 8:21AM July 27, 2011

When we had VISION, we had people inventing, planning, hoping for future generations and their well being. We have lost our vision and replaced it with a WELFARE STATE mentality wherein generations of lazy drug-dealing recipients refuse to get an education, refuse to work, and expect those of us who do and have worked to give them something for nothing. Our politicians in DC keep developing this attitude by ignoring the benefits derived from space research and refusing to fund programs to educate and advance research and development. Our LIBERAL welfare program politicians have just about killed the ONCE-GREAT NATION by under-funding NASA and keeping the greatest organization which has ever been a part of the US government under the DOT and not given NASA cabinet status. As long as the NASA budget is less than a fraction of 1% of the US budget when it has been proven that for $1 spent on space research $7 is returned to the US economy, then our nations path to destruction will continue. If politicians will just look at history and stop trying to turn us into a welfare state, there is still time to get back in thespace research business. We need another mind like James Webb as NASA Administrator instead of astronauts. Webb knew how to go to the hill and talk to the idiots in congress and let them know what NASA could do and then prove it by putting together a group who could send men to the moon and get them back. I WAS PART OF NASA THEN. I'M SICK OF WHAT I SEE NOW!!

Bill Martin of FL 8:06PM July 19, 2011

I find this FAA approved spaceport called Cecil Field Spaceport to be a wonderful solution to our loss of the shuttle. The BIG question will be will the media get behind the privately owned space program better known as the NEWSPACE Industry?

Tony Webb of FL 12:37AM July 18, 2011

This is not the end of manned spaceflight, even for the USA.
The USA never had spaceflight, the way we have air travel. We have ways to push things into space with a firehose of money.
It costs about the same in fuel to fly from Los Angeles to Sydney, Australia, as it does to fly to orbit. It doesn't cost as much, because we don't push a 747 into the ocean after every flight. We don't take it completely apart and rebuild it, either.
30 years after the Wright brothers flew at Kitty Hawk, Douglas Aircraft built the DC3. Many DC3s still fly. It's such a good airframe that many are being re-engined with turboprops. Where is our spacegoing DC3?
The Apollo program was a campaign in the Cold War. It was much cheaper than a hot war, and it convinced the Soviets that we can do anything. It's one reason the Soviets took SDI seriously. It did not, however, give us space travel.
The Shuttle is a magnificent, glorious kludge.
The Shuttle is the cuckoo in the space travel nest. NASA laid that egg. NASA did everything they could to prevent competition. Now that the Shuttle is going away, perhaps we'll get real space travel.

BobW of TX 10:42AM July 13, 2011

Our space program was worth the money, in terms of what our country learned, what we developed (faster, better computers), the jobs we created, and the prestige and sense of accomplishment it gave all Americans.
However, like all investments, it's time to focus on other important priorities for our country, like developing alternatives to oil, so we don't have to go to war to insure its availability, focusing on our secondary education system, so our students' performance is once again the best in the world, and rebuilding our aging infrastructure, which will boost employment as well as manufacturing.
My vote is to Rebuild America with the same commitment and resolve as we had for our space program. Let's focus on "launching" our economy, and becoming THE world leader again.

Skip Coggin of IL 4:52AM July 13, 2011

This article was "One small step for man, one giant leap for USNews and World Report". Excellent points made for both sides by Ms. Sneed. A job well done.

Steve Jankowski of KS 11:11PM July 12, 2011

Technology has advanced to the extent that manned programs to outer space are no longer necessary or justifiable.

xyzzy of KY 7:18PM July 12, 2011

The Shuttle was amazing, but is as expensive and labor intensive as a 1970's mainframe computer. The four new space vehicles under development (SpaceX Dragon, Sierra Nevada Dream Chaser, Boeing CST-100, Blue Origin) represent big improvements toward affordable space exploration, and a potential for vast expansion of activities. NASA wants to invest the cost of half a Shuttle flight to develop these vehicles. But Congress is cutting that funding this week. We should keep exploring - with commercial spaceships.
http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2011/04/four-companies-win-nasas-ccdev-2-awards/
http://www.space-access.org/updates/sau126.html

Eric Dahlstrom of CA 5:07PM July 12, 2011