Although Space Shuttle Discovery's launch on Tuesday was deemed a success, NASA has decided to ground the rest of the fleet indefinitely. During the early phase of Discovery's launch, a chunk of insulation foam fell off it's fuel tank. While Discovery was probably not damaged by the foam, it brought back memories of the Columbia disaster two and a half years ago when falling foam damaged the shuttle causing it to break apart upon re-entry. The re-occurrence of falling foam debris has put NASA on edge and has led to the grounding.
So, have we reached a point where the Space Shuttle program should be scraped? They are proving to be inherently unreliable. Accidents have claimed two of the five original shuttles, and serious design flaws seem to be cropping up with every mission - missions that are becoming fewer and far between. While shuttles are necessary to keep the International Space Station (ISS) supplied and functional, they are costly, out-dated and and frankly dangerous. Additionally, they can only be used in "near Earth" missions like to supply the ISS or repair Hubble.
Thoughts?
Replacement
