Eisenhower started the space program after the USSR launched Sputnik. It took a Democrat to end it.
Well Said! Not just any old democrat either. The most anti-American democrat ever to occupy the whitehouse! A very sad day for America. I weep for the future generation of Americans.
To disband the shuttle support team with no current access to the ISS without paying the Russians is unfathomably stupid and arguably treason. I called all my pubbie reps months ago asking that they push for at least a skeleton crew to keep the shuttle program running at least til we had a replacement program. Crickets chirping.
A local (now national) talk jock - Todd Schnitt noted that the shuttle airframe was rated for 100 launches with most shuttles only having ~ 35 launches so we could keep them running - relatively old but proven technology. Sigh.
To be fair, the end of the Shuttle program was initiated by President Bush. But it was Obama who cancelled the replacement for the Shuttle.
We had a 5 to 6 year gap between the end of the Apollo era and the start of the Shuttle era, but we had the shuttle in development all that time. Now, we have nothing. Nothing for future manned space flight.