As long as muslims feel good about all their contributions to math and science, all is good
LOL! The comment about gw cancelling the program was semi-satirical since I DID know he shut it down. In the early years we were gearing up to build External Tanks at a pretty rapid pace. Challenger put a stop to that. One of the problems with the insulation (the “orange” tanks) was the application method that was changed due to epa regs after quite a few years of waivers. Sadly, the orbiters were only used for about a third of their design life. As far as “man on a stick” goes, Sierra Nevada Corp at least has a flyable option instead of the old “splash down” option. Who knows if and when the US will ever field human rated space vehicles again.