I was really really into the space program growing up. Love it. But this information came from a google search.
I actually get really sad going over to the Kennedy Space Center now. It all looks great until you realize this was stuff we did as long as 50 years ago. We celebrate when SpaceX does something and forget those same things were done decades ago by other engineers.
We should be on mars by now. Maybe we could meet some martians.
Actually, I'm rather hostile about the shuttle program. I deplore using the lives of those astronauts for a smoke screen with technology so extremely complex and risky when we had far better, far safer, far more flexible craft that had been flying for quite some time.
Search Ben Rich's comments . . . retiring head of Lockeed Skunk Works.What a waste of money and lives.
I love the spin-off's for the culture and industry . . . but those were not inherently tied to the shuttle.
We purportedly have one or more bases on Mars.