THE SPACE SHUTTLE

[Robert Bruce]

Back in 1972, who'd have thought that President "Tricky Dickie" Nixon would show any interest in the space program. Nixon took office on 20th January 1969 just in time for the Apollo 11 mission which saw Neil Armstrong become the first man to walk on the moon, or any other planet for that matter, on 20 July 1969.

However, it was Nixon who ended manned space flight to the moon. He needed budget cutbacks and as missions to the moon had lost public appeal this aspect of man's expeditions into space lost out. But he did a good thing in approving funds to develop the Space Shuttle. The ISS got built as a result of Nixon's signature.

Maintaining ISS now that the shuttle fleet has been retired since 2011, means NASA has to rely on Russia's SOYUZ workhorse to transport crew, food and parts to the ISS. Not an ideal situation but good news is that the shuttle's replacement is under development and I suspect it will be the forerunner to or the actual craft that will take man to Mars.

Meanwhile this photo will endure and impart realistic perspectives about how small we truly are in comparison what must be achieved by us to ensure our species survives.

[SandyB]

I recall comment about the space shuttle being about as aerodynamic as a manhole cover ,, to guide it into landing was a dog of a  mission .. but  it did its job ...  a reusable craft .. excepting the  odd  ceramic  tile  coming loose ...

[Robert Bruce]

The shuttle is/was reputedly the most complex machine ever built. Over six million parts.

I hope the service warranty was fully covered for parts and labour!

[Michael Alexander]

In my non engineering capacity, I always thought that the American space program was overkill..... way too expensive , surely by now, there should be a cheaper way to get into space.....

[Robert Bruce]

Hard fact is that costs escalate and do not tumble. The global space industries cannot produce cheaper spacecraft at the expense of safety. All spacecraft need redundancy backup systems and as costs of components rise, cheaper craft will remain the holy grail for all countries who have a public funded space program.

If Virgin Galaxy cannot get its costs down then I suspect neither can the likes of NASA. Retiring the Shuttle fleet is a direct correlation to the costs involved in servicing these ageing craft. That they have lasted so long beyond reasonable expectation is due to NASA observing stringent adherence to high levels of maintenance standards. Very expensive and not sustainable.

So the next generation of workhorse craft needs to be more cost effective but not skimp on safety nor quality.