And we have LIFTOFF!

[DeaconG]

Last Shuttle's on it's way...

The cloud cover was really heavy here...I barely heard it go off and I was outside with my camera, by the time I realized that they'd taken off it was too late.  I might have gotten a second or two if I'd been standing in the right place, but then it disappeared into the clouds.

I've worked the majority of Shuttle missions since STS-4 in 1982...and now, the end is nigh...

[formulanone]

All we had were clouds in south Florida, so there wasn't anything to see on the sky.

[NE2]

Yeah, nothing visible from Orlando either. It's really spectacular when you can see it at night.

[golden eagle]

Ending manned space programs is one thing I disagree with Obama on. 

[Scott5114]

This isn't the end of manned US space programs. This is just the end of the shuttle program. Manned US space missions will take place using Russian Soyuz spacecraft. The space shuttle program is being retired because it's outdated, basically. Keep in mind that everything was designed in the 1970s–including the computers–and you'll see why NASA feels the need to replace them with something else.

[Stephane Dumas]

Time to remember the good old space days with these songs

[corco]

This isn't the end of manned US space programs. This is just the end of the shuttle program. Manned US space missions will take place using Russian Soyuz spacecraft. The space shuttle program is being retired because it's outdated, basically. Keep in mind that everything was designed in the 1970s–including the computers–and you'll see why NASA feels the need to replace them with something else.

But we're *not* actually replacing them with something else, and the Soyuz is more outdated than the space shuttle!

The shuttles were still in good operating condition- there was absolutely no reason to dump them so that we could buy seats on Russian  (!) rockets until whatever we're replacing the shuttle with was ready.

[realjd]

We'll be seeing American astronauts launched on American missions from KSC within the next 5 years. It'll be on a Falcon or a Delta rocket. SpaceX, Boeing, Lockheed, SNC, and others are all working on capsules. SpaceX has even flown theirs on at least one test flight. As painful as the end of the shuttle program is, switching from NASA-designed launch vehicles to commercially developed ones will be a good thing in the long term. It will significantly reduce costs while driving competition and innovation in the commercial space industry.

I heard a talk recently from one of the higher-ups at KSC. The way he explained it, space technology is mature enough now that it can be commercially viable. NASA is refocusing from being a glorified cargo-hauler to low earth orbit to focusing on developing longer expeditions and more research, including manned missions to comets, the moon, mars, etc.

The Air Force hasn't done their own launches in a long time. They use primarily commercial Delta and Atlas rockets now. It's still USAF payloads, but they didn't see a need to create their own rocket from scratch. NASA is just following their lead.

But yes, I think it's completely dumb to be canceling the shuttle program when we don't have a viable alternative that isn't controlled by the Russians.

[DeaconG]

They could have put the X-38 on a Delta Heavy or an Atlas and been able to get astronauts up and back to the ISS without any trouble at all...oh, wait, you say they cancelled it because we gotta have Soyuz?

A review: The X-38 was supposed to be used as an ISS return vehicle-a lifting body type design with a steerable parafoil to assist in landing (think a modernized, kick butt version of the old USAF DynaSoar program).  It went from a clean sheet of paper to two working vehicles in TWO YEARS.  Passed every test but the one that counted-put it on a Shuttle, kick it out and let it come home.  Before THAT could happen...all of a sudden..."well, we'll just go with Soyuz capsules!  Yeah, that's the ticket!"

Two years and two billion dollars literally urinated away because SOMEONE made a political decision.  I wasn't the only person who ended up grinding their dental enamel into a bloody pink froth-there were a lot of PISSED people at JSC.  Why the hell didn't they go for broke and let the X-38 fly, just to see if in fact they could pull it off.  And now both vehicles are rusting away in a hangar at JSC.

Don't EVEN get me started on X-33/Venture Star and DC-X.

[Scott5114]

In the political situation we're in now, where it's looking iffy that the government will even be able to send out SS checks after August 2, do you really expect something like the X-38 to continue to be funded? When you're looking for ways to cut spending, things like that are low hanging fruit.

[realjd]

They could have put the X-38 on a Delta Heavy or an Atlas and been able to get astronauts up and back to the ISS without any trouble at all...oh, wait, you say they cancelled it because we gotta have Soyuz?

The problem is that Deltas and Atlas rockets aren't currently certified for human spaceflight and weren't originally designed to be. There's a good amount of work that needs done to get that cert. ULA (Boeing/Lockheed's joint venture for Delta and Atlas) is working on that though:
http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n1102/13ulaccdev/

My money is still on SpaceX with a Falcon 9/Dragon capsule being the first commercial vehicle to launch American astronauts.

In the political situation we're in now, where it's looking iffy that the government will even be able to send out SS checks after August 2, do you really expect something like the X-38 to continue to be funded? When you're looking for ways to cut spending, things like that are low hanging fruit.

It's easy enough to say we should stop funding programs like the X-38, but there is a large segment of the population with jobs in the aerospace and defense industries. Slashing aerospace and defense spending too steeply and too quickly would do very bad things to the economy. Personally, I want to see MORE researchy aerospace spending. There are plenty of other areas that can be cut.

[mightyace]

And, remember, the shuttle was a compromise to begin with.  It started as a true space plane and eventually ended up as the glider/lander strapped to conventional rockets that we know today.

But, I do agree with the others that stopping the shuttle before alternatives are ready is not a good idea.  Unless I'm mistaken, it's not like the shuttle has become unsafe, thus forcing them to be grounded.

[DeaconG]

In the political situation we're in now, where it's looking iffy that the government will even be able to send out SS checks after August 2, do you really expect something like the X-38 to continue to be funded? When you're looking for ways to cut spending, things like that are low hanging fruit.

X-38 was cancelled approximately two to three years ago.

[DeaconG]

And, remember, the shuttle was a compromise to begin with.  It started as a true space plane and eventually ended up as the glider/lander strapped to conventional rockets that we know today.

But, I do agree with the others that stopping the shuttle before alternatives are ready is not a good idea.  Unless I'm mistaken, it's not like the shuttle has become unsafe, thus forcing them to be grounded.

You are correct...it was when the Air Force took an interest in it that the shuttle program was retained, unfortunately they dropped the flyback booster concept for the stage-and-a-half SRB/ET concept.