Quote:
Originally Posted by lizziebith
I remember watching the moon landing vividly...and I don't get the "space shuttle is boring" mentality. OMG! How is this possible? Have you no sense of wonder? I marvel at it constantly...watch NASA channel all the time. That we can send actual humans into that vast wilderness never ceases to reduce me to tears of joy every time. What a glorious thing it is to be alive while these things happen.
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Ok, I was being extra blase.
I love that we can put people into space, love the amazing science behind it. What gets me about the shuttle program is that every show I've seen about it for the last 15 years has said the same thing: The shuttle is like sending 4 people in a bus, but what we need to do is trim it down and send 2 people in a race car. They kept showing these new ideas for smaller, reusable ships (as mentioned in this thread) but none of it ever materialized. Then Columbia blew, just when we were FINALLY getting over the Challenger (which I remember well). As Alex alluded to, I think the shuttle suffers from some major PR problems.
Getting people to and from our space station is pretty damn cool. The fact that we have people in space all the time is awesome. Hubble kicks ass. There are great reasons to be in space.
But right now - Virgin Galactic, space X Prizes, the Chinese getting involved, Russia letting you pay your own way - these are the kinds of stories that catch my eye.