I know I may get shot for this, by the more nostalgic members, but it’s probably for the best that NASA be shut down. Like all government bureaucracies, it has stifled progress.
Nasa quit going to the moon in 1973, and has maintained a low orbit presence since. If NASA were allowed to continue, that would probably be as far as it would go.
Since private space exploration has taken off, they’ve designed space suits that can help somebody fall from space, in the event of needing an emergency escape. The privateers have designed several ships that replace the space shuttle, and they have plans to colonize the moon and Mars.
What has NASA done, I, the last twenty years that represent real progress?
No, you’re spot on. Pournelle has been saying the same for more than a decade.