MasterP said:
You have to see a shuttle yourself to really grasp just how large it is, a picture really doesn’t do it justice. Same goes for a Saturn 5, if you’ve ever walked the length of the one they have on display you realize just how powerful we are as a nation when we devote ourselves to achieveing a goal.
when i was like 14 we got to walk around on the inside of the Atlantis space shuttle… they really seem all tiny up on top of the 747, but inside they are huge
MasterP said:
Having said that, the shuttles themselves need to be mothballed and modern replacements built. Considering few cars that old still run I can’t imagine why they want to continue using them, especially with their $20 billion per year budget. However, considering also that the currently planned replacement is actually a step backwards technologically, I can’t say I won’t miss the shuttle.
When i used to live in California, my dad worked on the Venture Star/ X33 program which was supposed to replace the space shuttle, but NASA cut the funding and it got canceled. I don’t think that it was the best idea to do that considering space travel is gonna be an important part of the next century, but what NASA says goes sadly.
Long Live the Space Cow