The end of an era came abruptly this morning at 5:56 a.m. EST as Space Shuttle Atlantis safely returned home. As best as I can tell, the world hardly noticed. This is what happens when you're flat broke-plugs get pulled & the party moves elsewhere. Future moon landings have also been scrapped by the current administration (talk about fun haters!).
Much like all things pertaining to the military, space travel is one of the few areas in my humble but accurate opinion our government has done well. Now perhaps the private sector will take over. Wouldn't hold my breath on that one however.
I suspect we are about to enter numerous blah-zay decades of a whole lota nutin' special (i.e. Spacelab). During that time, I predict one of two things will happen- A.) Another country (namely China) will be the new leader in cutting edge space exploration, or B.) Some Mark Zuckerberg of sorts in his (or her) college dorm room in some podunk Oklahoma state college you've never heard of, will make a major breakthrough during their fall semester research project (circa 2073 me thinks) thus creating zillions of new jobs. Then the whole all but forgotten ball of wax will once again resurrect itself much to the delight of future Trekkies. Hope I'm wrong. But I doubt it. Until such day, we have oceans of National debt to conquer & a great deal of mediocrity to embrace, as sadly, American exceptionalism becomes more & more a thing of the past. :0/
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