This Week in the Future, July 5-8, 2011

And today we say goodbye to a space program that has captivated us for decades. I can’t say it as eloquently as Rebecca, but this Baarbarian illustration should serve as our pictorial adieu to the Shuttle program. (You can check out all of our coverage of today’s launch here, by the way.)

Want to win this respectful yet slightly morose Baarbarian illustration on a t-shirt? It’s easy! The rules: Follow us on Twitter (we’re @PopSci) and retweet our This Week in the Future tweet. One of those lucky retweeters will be chosen to receive a custom T-shirt with this week’s Baarbarian illustration on it, thus making the winner the envy of their friends, coworkers and everyone else with eyes. (Those who would rather not leave things to chance and just pony up some cash for the t-shirt can do that here.) The stories pictured herein:

• Testing the Goods: Wacom’s Bamboo Stylus Turns the iPad Into a SketchPad
• Is American Foot-Dragging Pushing the Future Elsewhere?
• House Subcommittee’s Budget Bill Puts Most Powerful Space Telescope on the Chopping Block

And don’t forget to check out our other favorite stories of the week:

• Inside the World’s Largest Fusion Reactor
• The Science of Gaydar: How Ovulation and Sexy Stories Sharpen Sexual Perception
• Former CIA Chief: A Separate Internet Could Curb Cyber Threats
• FYI: What is the Hottest Pepper in the World?
• On a Rainy Shuttle-Launch Eve, Atlantis is Still Go, For Now
• Live: Space Shuttle Atlantis’s Final Launch
• Atlantis Successfully Lifts Off, Capping the 30-Year Space Shuttle Program and Blowing My Mind
• As NASA Retires Its Flagship Humans-Into-Space Program, Robot Explorers Take the Reins
• Ten Tech Innovations From NASA’s Space Shuttle That Trickled Down to Non-Astronauts