Atlantis Successfully Lifts Off, Capping the 30-Year Space Shuttle Program and Blowing My Mind

Good riddance. A total waste of $200 billion dollars which should have been spent on infrastructure and things on planet earth. I used to be a real crazy sci fi freak from 1950's and 60's but disgusted with real returns from space program and the knowledge that mankind is not suited for space and no planet is every going to be inhabitable in this solar system and we can't ever visit the starts as it's just too far.

Current technology would take 300,000 years for a round trip to the nearest star system and for what? To check out more rocky balls? No thanks we have better ways to spend our money on planet earth and exploring the deep seas.

Don't be sad, all things come to an end eventually, to make way for other things, such as wars. Unbelievable amount is spent on these wars while the mankind is the loser, in the end.

@GIzmoWIZ First off we are not 300,00 years away, we are closer to 200 years away from starting an intersteller mission. Also you should know that there are five thoretical ways around the light barrier. IF just one of them pans out then BAM we will be colonizing alien worlds. LIke the theory of gravity they all have math and physics behind them so their not totaly insane in fact their all quite possible but when they become avaliable is unknown, most likly long after we are dead. I also want to add that congress has turned NASA into a jobs program; they have considerably slowed down because the house is actully telling them what rockets to build. AL the information on these alternative space travel methods (bending space and shit) are somewhere on NASAs website.

@gizmowiz
I'm just seeking clarification here:
Other than your trolling popsci posts about space, you believe that renting a "Dolphin-Like Speedboat That Can Reach 50 MPH and Launch 18 Feet Into the Air" would be a (and I quote directly from your comment) "knockout industry if they started one."
You're AGAINST space exploration, but absolutely FOR dolphin boats?
If you don't like space articles, and are constantly badmouthing everything that has "space" in the headlines, why do you keep reading them and commenting?
Keep your astrophobic comments to yourself, especially when you have not the slightest respect for the technological advancements space exploration has yielded.
You should try googling "science breakthroughs in space that affect us daily" and browse through some of the 17 million results that come back.
Educate yourself, and keep an open mind!
Just imagine... we could have dolphin-shaped spaceships one day and rent them out in space. Wouldn't that be way more exciting?!

NASA's budget - $18.7 billion per year
Medicare and Medicaid fraud - $87 billion per year

You be the judge.

I actually cried while watching the last Atlantis launch. We have had the ability to put a man/woman into space for 50 years. All that is now gone.

@Tenkana,

LOL! nice post

@boincman,

The amount the U.S. military spends annually on air conditioning in Iraq and Afghanistan: $20.2 billion

NASA's budget - $18.7 billion per year

You be the judge.

It really kinda bothers me when people bring up the financial cost of the space program as a negative. $18.7 billion dollars a year is not a small number when compaired to the average middle class families income, it looks big and scary from that perspective. however, when you look at it as a piece of the national budget it is a staggeringly small piece of the pie. Less than 1% of the federal budget. It constantly amazes me what NASA has been able to accomplish with the little funing they have recieved.

you can make an argument about returns and whether its worth it, but lets be honest here. Cutting NASA funding would not even be a drop in the bucket towards fixing america's economic issues.

according to wikipedia, the highest percentage of the federal budget NASA has ever gotten was %4.41 (~$32billion in 2007 dollars). for the last ten years or so, NASA's budget has ranged from %.58 to %.7 of the federal budget.

There is no way, in my mind, that anyone can legitimately argue for cutting NASA's funding from a purely financial platform. I won't say NASA is perfect, but it seems clear to me that we get a lot of bang for our buck in that department.

I'm very sad to have missed the final shuttle launch. I remember watching the launches fo the late 80s and early 90s from the classroom. I always hoped I would get to see one, but its a long drive halfway across the country and bills must be paid.

hopefully someday something will pick up where the shuttle left off, maybe I'll get to see that.

THis is the only time i am going to say this "thank god china exists". IF the U.S is going to slow down at least humanity wont. CHina will pick up the pace. Also they have plans in the far future to spend in the 100s of billions in space. That probably wont happen but at least the human race as a whole isnt fucked. Just the american race..well space wise.

The problem with the money spent in NASA is that it doesn't have a focused purpose any more. Projects exist which just don't make sense. 17 billion - you could put people on Mars for that. This agency needs a shake up. Better yet - we need to open up space exploration for the commercial markets and have NASA serve as a regulatory committee. Take that 17billion - make it 3 billion then place the remaining 14 billion into a space venture capital fund. We'll see TONS of advancements in space exploration if 14 billion is given to the general public to build cool scientific stuff.

@andrewfinkrodman

uhmmm not sure if your trolling just for the lolz ,or just being a douche.

There are several private companies with rockets capable of ferrying our people up there that are in an advanced state of development. We shall see, I guess. Some of these are heavy lifters capable of putting our next designed manned vehicle into space. The word is that we are less than two years away from being back in the manned launch business, and the vehicles are being developed by our best and brightest, mainly people who were with NASA. IMO, the real meaning of this is that we are transitioning our manned space program into the private sector. Whether this will prove to be a good idea is anyone's guess, but it is a learning opportunity that will eventually be beneficial, whether it succeeds or fails. We have to think in terms of many decades here. The science, itself, is mostly done robotically, and those missions won't stop. Plus there is already of century's worth of un-mined data, so the science will advance anyway in our research centers. The real use of humans in space will end up being commercial anyway, from tourism to mining asteroids, the moon, etc. for resources. So, developing private launch companies for manned spaceflight makes sense at this point.

Listen we have to pave the way in Space now!!!!! We must take off!!!!! The American Flag should pave the way in space!!!! We live in a dangerous world!!!! Just remember decade by decade huge gains are made in techology!!!!!! Dont think linearally think exponentially!!!!! Listen the chinese would probably kill us all we cannot let another nation dominate space it must be us!!!! The American flag must dominate space!!!! And yes this is really me Ray Kurzweil.

"DO WHAT MUST BE DONE, DO NOT HESITATE, SHOW NO MERCY, ONLY THEN WILL YOU BE STRONG ENOUGH WITH THE DARK SIDE OF THE FORCE TO SAVE THE ONES YOU LOVE"

Wow! Ray Kurzweil. I watched that documentary about Ray Kurzweil that I downloaded from NetFlix and also the recent guest appearance on Bill Mahr. If you are Ray Kurzweil, you are brilliant, and amazingly optimistic about the future. But your post here sounds so panicky and nationalistic, it doesn't seem to fit what I know about Ray Kurzweil. Isn't the nation-state kind of a counterproductive and dangerous thing to be in dominance of any area of science and knowledge?? Somehow, this doesn't sound like Ray Kurzweil. Also, the Ray Kurzweil that I know about would not fail to capitalize "Chinese", forget commas, and make grammatical mistakes, let alone advocate showing no mercy. Sorry. I don't believe you. But maybe American jingoism is the path to the "Singularity."

I would give it about 20 years, and people will be saying that we faked the Space Shuttle program, and it never really happened. Revisionists will remember the tons of air pollution it produced and environmentalists will decry the space junk it put in orbit. The astronauts will be remembered as a bunch of guys who ate the flesh of animals and owned live pets. The entire project will be dismissed as barbarian Space Shuttle workers who owned firearms and were on the verge of committing felonies. The global temperature (non)change will be attributed to evil Space Shuttle flights.

the space program is alive and well, it is just not only nasa anymore, private industry is is nearly ready to take on much of what nasa has done in the past, stop with the hysteria and get informed, the shuttle progran is long over due for retirement, RIP

lol at Ray Kurzweil impersonator.. have fun trolling..

We have just given the keys to the ISS to the Russians.

Cool Article!