Quote:
Originally Posted by Caged Great
The thing that pisses me off is the lack of investment in NASA. The Shuttles were still perfectly usable (they had about 40 more uses each in their safe lifetime, and were only actually used about 35-40 times in reality for about 75-80 in total) and now they are stuck hoping Space X can take over for them. Simply ridiculous that this has come to pass.
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I don't know man, I think the shuttle gets a little over rated some times.
And, I would say that by the time it was retired, it was pretty much obsolete.
The thing was crazy expesive to operate, and cargo/people can be sent to orbig for much cheaper using other methods (like the rockets Space-X, and other private companies are using, and Russian rockets).
One of the advantages of the Shuttle was that it had enough room to be a space lab, but with the ISS operating, that isn't really necessary any more, so with the shuttle you're using a vehicle that is way over complciated for the simple task of making grocery runs.
Also, let's not forget that the safe lifetime of a shuttle isn't exactly great.
2 catastrophic failures in 135 missions isn't exactly a stellar safety record is it?
There is no doubt retiring the shuttle left a void in our space capabilities, but I don't think it's as huge as some people are making it out to be. And if a private company can do some of the things NASA was doing for cheaper, then how is that a bad thing?