Discovery had a live broadcast of the Space Shuttle Atlantis launch to the Hubble Telescope last night (Europe Time) and I actually managed to catch it on air. It’s funny but even though in some ways space travel has become routine, I and still amazed and in awe every time I see the shuttle go up. It really is a marvel of human achievement, a thing of unfathomable beauty, and a sense of connection to the universe. It’s hard to believe that the fleet of these graceful white and black behemoths is to be retired soon.
In many ways its replacement is a giant step backwards, returning once again to a capsule system and lacking much of the flexibility of the current “space truck” mentality of the Shuttle. More importantly, it lacks the inspirational quality. The shuttle was always somewhat futuristic, and even today, even though the technology is decades old, it still seem like one of the most far reaching things humanity has ever done. I guess the future of inspirational space vehicles lies not with Nasa but with private companies like Virgin Galactic and Space X. I guess we can just hope that someone in some government somewhere in the world realizes the importance of manned space flight and sometime in the future humankind’s greatest endeavor is given it’s rightful place in people and government’s collective consciousnesses once again.
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