Recently I had a discussion with WBS over on Ceder lounge about the Space Shuttle and didn’t feel i laid my point out clearly so where is reasons not to like the space shuttle.

To access the Space Shuttle one needs to look at the reasons for it to be built.

1. It was to make Space Travel Cheaper.

2. To make space travel more regularly

3.  It would allow furnishing of future space stations.

Now for the first 2 the answer simply that they did not do this. NASA envisioned lauching every week yet the space shuttle launches about 4-5 times a year. Also cost per pound of the shuttle is not much different from what normal launches costs. As for space station maintenance. With Mir and the ISS the Russians have showed that Rocket launched Soyez capsules are perfectly fine for doing that job.

Now most projects require goals and if they do not meet their goals then it is deemed not a success. The shuttle did not reach its goals and it has been detrimental to science. Lots of money was spent on the shuttle money which if invested in science could have lead to far more exciting discoveries then we have yet. It squeezed budgets resulting in many project being shelved.

NASA have realized the folly of all this and the next generation of transports like Orion are far smaller and lauched on the backs of rockets and will unlike the shuttle be able to escape Earth Orbit. But it is not just me that criticise the shuttle.

Asked Tuesday whether the shuttle had been a mistake, Griffin said, “My opinion is that it was. … It was a design which was extremely aggressive and just barely possible.” Asked whether the space station had been a mistake, he said, “Had the decision been mine, we would not have built the space station we’re building in the orbit we’re building it in.”

So who is Griffen? Michael D. Griffen the current Administrator of NASA.

This brings us to the Spaceshipone and commercial space. More then half the worlds satellites are being launched by private companies. Such as Sea Launch as Arianne Space. While none of this technology would have been developed without government funding it does show that private industry does have a future in providing space services. Much of the problem with the shuttle was that the vision constantly changed due to people promising things that could not be achieved the goal was lost sight of.

Also this is the 1500 dossing times post. Woohoo