Shuttle Geek – Discovery Rolls Out For Final Mission

September 9, 2010

Jim Reeves commentary, geek , , , , 1 Comment

The Space Shuttle Discovery is moved into the Vertical Assembly Building today, in preparation for the next Shuttle mission to the International Space Station.  This may well be the last flight of Discovery.  STS 133  While there is a new system on the drawing boards, it will be years before the United States has a manned spacecraft after the shuttles are retired.  In the meantime, we will rent space on Russian rockets to get our astronauts into space.

Last Flight of the Shuttle Atlantis

May 14, 2010

Jim Reeves commentary, News, Personal , , , , , Leave a comment

Space Shuttle Atlantis Photo Credit NASA

As of this writing, the Space Shuttle Atlantis sits on the pad at Kennedy Space Center Florida, ready for today’s liftoff on a mission to the International Space Station.  Barring any last-minute reprieves, this will be Atlantis’ last flight.  After this mission,  Orbiter OV-104,  first flown in 1985,  will be removed from service as NASA retires the Shuttle fleet.  There are only a few more flights remaining in the construction of the International Space Station, and once those flights are done, the shuttle program will be ended.  The orbiters will be safed, and shipped off to various museums and institutions for display.

Once the last Space Shuttle lands sometime in 2011, the United States will have no manned access to space.  While there is an impressive list of rockets in NASA’s fleet, once the Shuttles are retired, American astronauts will only be able to go into space on the rockets of other nations, primarily Russia.

Essentially, the only way for the United States to access it’s Space Station is to hail a cab.

More

Newer Entries