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Originally posted by Undertoad
Regarding A meaningful goal for NASA, this person has an interesting proposal that rings true and makes a lotta sense.
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Which guarantees and entrenches the French as world leader in satellite launch business. Because of the Shuttle program, US long ago lost out to France as commerical satellite launch leader. Now the French or Russians become the world leader in heavy launch vehicles.
Amazing how many #1 rankings of importance the US will surrender because politicians - not engineers - make technical decisions. Top of the list for why the US loses leadership in other, productive industries: anti-ballistic missile defense system - that does not work but creates lots of jobs. Jobs that result in nothing productive.
If the shuttle fleet stops flying, then the $150billion for the ISS will also become a flaming meteor.
Heard today that the US has asked Russia to bring back three astronauts on ISS. Not sure if this means the ISS will be abandoned for a while. Without Shuttles, ISS cannot be maintained except for short periods using supplies from Soyus capsules.