NASA is sooooooooooo boring anymore.
The names Challenger and Columbia lead to believe that space is still pretty serious.
To quote Tremors "all right Burt". I've got friends in LPL here at the U and they've been saying the same thing for years. NASA puts way too much effort into making space travel seem mundaine like a morning commute, it makes space unpopular and uninteresting and makes everyone freak out anytime something goes wrong. They need to hire some TV producers from the Steve Irwin school of TV, make stuff seem dangerous it's better for ratings.
"Hey Harry, you know we're sitting on four million pounds of fuel, one nuclear weapon and a thing that has two hundred thousand moving parts built by the lowest bidder. Makes you feel good doesn't it?"
They, of course, must take care of all those problems, and the related patronage, before getting down to business.
It will be fun -- just as soon as I get my photon torpedoes.
How much more boring and uninspiring can you get than accomplishing nothing more in the last 3o years but going round and round the globe. As Archie Bunker used to say, "Well, whup tee do!"
Get off the dime! Dream big! Do something to inspire. On to Mars!
NASA would face all kinds of flak if they took chances like Rutan does!