Does anyone else not think this is a huge step backwards? Of all the things that President Bush has done that I can possibly forgive him for, mucking around with the Space Shuttle program is not one of them. It's by his order that the fleet is to be retired.
Will the Ares rocket be able to accomplish similar missions? With it's higher payload capacity and design built on lessons learned from the Shuttle, I'm sure it will do just fine, but it still feels a step backwards to have astronauts splashing down in the ocean again like they did in cold war days.
The trouble is the premature cancellation of the Shuttle flights by the government rather than NASA. When will the Orion capsule be ready to sit on top of the Ares rocket to take astronauts back into space? Not until 2014. Essentially we're grounded for 7 years. Thank you Mr. Bush.
Why should the average public care? Why indeed, when the media refuses to provide any reasonable coverage of the Phoenix mission to Mars, or any other NASA accomplishments. All you get to hear is the shock value news about the two shuttle tragedies we've had out of 123 flights (not counting the Shuttle Enterprise test flights.)
