Thank you.
Expensive and technologically challenging as it was, I loved the Shuttle program. It made me believe that you can always reach for something most consider out of reach. As a kid growing up, the Shuttle was the biggest poster on my bedroom wall. Bigger than Tony Dorsett, Walter Payton, Jim Brown, Joe Montana, Dan Marino, Jon Elway, Joe Lewis, Frank Robinson and Muhammad Ali. That's big. And, anybody who does not fully understand that Joe Montana, was the greatest quarterback to ever play the game is simply smoking dope. But, I digress. I don't want to get into a fight here, because it would be pointless. Montana, was the Best Ever. Period.
The Shuttle caused me to pull a book from the library shelf and teach myself basic aerodynamics as a kid, which in turn later caused me to pick engineering as a major in college. The Shuttle was hugely inspirational for me and its losses hit home like losing family members myself. But, there are bigger frontiers now. Maybe Elon over at SpaceX, will build something that requires flight crews some day. Who knows. He talks about missions from Earth to Mars, being as regular as Lufthansa flies London to New York. Of course, they will still have to work out the fuel chemistry problems and their going to have to get the gross weight of the ship down quite a bit in order to hit the velocity numbers required to keep the time en route as plausible as possible. I have no doubt they'll get it done from a technology standpoint - that's just a matter of time, energy, effort, creativity and extreme focus. All of which they have plenty of.
You struck a nerve with the Shuttle comment.
