Yes,  I was witness to all of those also.  From the fear of Sputnik, the space race, the 3 tragic losses, the glory of the moon landings to the sadness that we didn't settle the moon and continue outward.  What a wasted opportunity for America and mankind.

As much as everyone will probably hate me for saying this-

It's about time.

The shuttle fleet was old; it was driven primarily be political requirements (in some ways)......and wasn't quite as cost effective for lifting mundane systems, like satellites and telescopes, into space on a regular basis. While it may have been intended to be a workhorse, IMO, at least, it simply didn't quite live up to the hype. Using an expendable booster would probably have been cheaper for quite a lot of tasks the Shuttle has been used for.

That being said, it's still a bit of a sad time to see it go. The Shuttle was an engineering marvel (albeit a somewhat overcosted one), and it was, for its time, quite momentous.

Oh, and just my $0.02:

When I think of "space", I think of space-stuff. Not space programs. When I do think of space programs.....well, then I think of the Moon missions, Apollo, and the experiments and thinktanks with nuclear propulsion and interstellar probes.

Not the Shuttle program.

WRT spaceflight pickup......I wouldn't bet on it. The current launch limits are around some 30-50 launches per year, IIRC. Development of radically new boosters simply isn't cost-effective. The boosters we have will continue to be refined in design, yes.....but not radically, unless we get some kind of technology breakthrough. The boosters in current use are quite simply perfectly adequate for current launch needs.

I'm going to take great offense at this, for the simple reason that "that stupid space station" is a far more vital reason for humans to go into space at present than anything else. "space based telescopes" are also quite important; they give us clear pictures of the universe, which are vital for astrophysics research.

And it's a real good idea to know where you're going before actually getting off the ground.

If you're going to be getting off the ground it's actually more important to have the odd plan or two in place regarding  'the return' ...

Any landing you can walk away from is a good landing...

Wuuhhh...Deep  

Yep, a sad day indeed with the ending of the space shuttle program.

In 1977 I was stationed at Edwards AFB in California the day the space shuttle Enterprise made its maiden voyage and landed there. A picture of it landing adorns my wall here in my computer room.  It was a truly historic event and the Enterprise was the only shuttle never to go into space, it was the one launched off the back of a Boeing 747 only and then flown to earth testing out the various systems. I believe it now resides in the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.

True, true.

I probably should have mentioned that......but then again, it is a bit of a "you're an idiot if you forgot that part!" for rocket designers.

The real reason there is no replacement for the shuttle is private corps want your tax dollar to profit on space exploration, instead of your government doing it for (mostly) the benefit of mankind.

Private companies competing against each other is a much better system then a wasteful government monopoly. After the cold war was over and all the pressure was dropped what exactly did NASA accomplish? If you actually bother to look up the private companies like SpaceX that are building the next generation of shuttles I think you will be impressed by the innovation and ambition. Let NASA do the long term science and let the day to day stuff be handled by the private sector.

Eventually if space exploration is ever to reach it's full potential and become anything more then a money sink private sector will have to take over and actually make some money, ie space mining, space tourism, orbital solar etc. In order for this to happen they need to build exposure and expertise in space technology.

I'm sad that NASA and the U.S government weren't organized enough to keep the shuttle program alive until the next generation was actually ready, but I'm excited about the possibilities that the new generation of private companies will bring to space exploration and development. If anything NASA rode on the momentum of it's past glory for far to long, and more would be accomplished today if the private sector had taken over sooner.

the private sector is taking over because space is becoming profitable.  As usual, the people take the lumps and then after the tech has been proven and cost effective the companies take over to capitalize on the new profits to be made.  The profits belong to the people, but since our representatives don't do their jobs correctly we won't ever realize that profit.

Don't bet on it. America realized the greatest dreams when it was an oil-rich country. Now, dependent on imports of energy, it is cannibalizing it's former luxuries - space program, welfare, but also medical care for the population that is being hit by steadily growing unemployment.

 

The same ol' market-fundamentalist fairy tale. In reality, many achievements came to see the day thanks to government programs (and the army that does not care about next-quarter profitability) - the Internet, GPS, and others. No private enterprise would be ever able to justify the cost of launching all those GPS satellites, let alone obtains means to do so.

Soviet space program was entirely government-run, and it achieved tremendous successes including sending first human into space.

DsRaider your argument make sense from the outset, but private corporations aren't always that are they? Space x recently was awarded a billion plus contract from NASA, so they are now just a subcontractor that will do the work NASA used to do..but take a little off the top for owners and shareholders alike. ALL the high tech defense industry corporations and future "private" space companies couldn't and would not survive without heavy heavy tax incentives, outright payment, or no bid your tax dollar contracts.

agree with sarath 01

 

 i am beginning to feel 'old' lol.  i remember reading asimov, when he was a new writer, and seeing star trek, with the first interracial kiss ever on TV, and 'communicators' etc.  Now its all passe.  men on the moon, instantaneous com links, 3d TV and holograms, artificial limbs, and face transplants. 

 

Bu, while 1984 has arrived about 25 years late, there is hope.  but, the weird thing is this:  in all the almost 60 years I have seen, one constant remains:  Humans are still to obsessively interested in the welfare of their own little group, and to hell with everyone else, and to hell with the future of the planet and future generations of humans.  We have great tools, but lousy morals, awesome technological accomplishments but to little common sense nor wisdom to deploy them with true kindness.   And so it continues.... 

Nice OP, especially the part about not getting into space policy arguments.

When I was a wee kid, my parents bought our first TV so we could watch the moon landing. My father once got a job to shoot photos of the VAB, and he came back to tell us that he'd been in a building so tall that it could form rainclouds inside. When I was in high school, our physics teacher led us out the classroom window and onto the soccer field so we could watch the contrail of the first shuttle launch--not a beachside view, but pretty cool for a North Florida school kid.

I'm glad to hear turnout at this last launch was so large. And not just for sentimental reasons. I'm a native Floridian and our tattered economy could use every bit of that old-time tourism we can get, even if it's mostly 'internal' tourism, which I suspect might be the case.

Yes, I'll miss the shuttle........I grew up close enough to the launch facilities that shortly after the rockets go out of sight we would feel the house shake and hear the noise (kinda like popcorn in microwave). I worry about what the 7,000 jobs lost will do to an area with over 12% unemployed already. Thanks Obama Administration.

I was sitting in a 2-man raft just beyond the breakers south of Turtle Mound when the first shuttle went up. We had spent the night before on the beach being drained by a zillion mosquitoes. I remember standing in the yard with my wife when Challenger came apart. She was supposed to be leaving for class and I was still working from home. I've missed very few of the launches...out of town for one or two and cloud cover for some others.

The thing I won't miss are the damn sonic booms.....scares the you know what out of a person when they're sleeping.

Much as I'll miss the shuttle, I really miss the Apollo launches. They make the shuttle seem like a 4th of July firework in comparison.