The Hubble could have been launched from a conventional rocket booster for half the price like skylab, so the shuttle had nothing to do with its success other than dropping it off and fixing its lens. The truth is that payload capacity is huge compared to a disposable rocket booster. The Shuttle program has produced nothing in comparison to the Gemini and Apollo missions, and we lost a total of 3 astronauts compared to 14 with this high tech glider! You can only study rats in zero gravity for so many years to realize that the taxpayer is pissing their money away on an organization that has no imagination or spirit for adventure anymore. There uses to be a saying of "No Buck Rogers, no bucks!" The shuttle program is immune to that saying! Just a bloated diversity program to show how races and genders can fly gliders in space. We should have a base on the moon by now. All were doing is orbiting a gliding semi. woopie!
You nailed it!