One Final Step: The End of an Era

Today we are witnessing the final mission of the Space Shuttle program. The Shuttles have served with dedication for the past 30 years. After today we will be without a manned space program. In the past we had about a 9 year wait from the end of Apollo to the beginning of the Space Shuttle. We are facing a similar wait between the end of the Shuttle and the beginning of the Shuttle replacement. The difference this time there is no replacement rocket developed. The one that was going to replace the Shuttle was canceled last year.

This is very much a piece of history we are witnessing. Over the next several years NASA will be facing the difficult nature of our financial issues and it will be interesting to see how they get ready for the next part of space exploration. We as a race have done amazing things with our space program and it is sad to see the shuttle go, but that is the future we look at now. after this lauch we need to look to our next biggest goal and get working on that ASAP. The science and technology that we learn from space exploration is something that will help everyone.

Imagine a modern rocket built using cutting edge technology will allow the next generation of astronauts to journey farther into space and allow a new generation to be influenced by our Apollo moment. The future of our species is out there in space. We can not stop going out into space.

In the next several years private companies are working to take over the shuttling of men and materials to the ISS. SpaceX is the most far one and hopefully they can pull it off. I await the day that private companies land a man on the moon to prove they can do it. The future of space travel does look bright but right now we have a small dark ages to go through and when get out the other side we have some large goals to accomplish.