I'm counting the last 15 years since people say it is still in the "testing phase".
I would expect that the military over the past 25 years has blown through a great deal more money on their failed systems than NASA has, but the public doesn't see most of it.
Probably, but that doesn't make it right. It's more of an argument for reviewing military procurement than justifying the shuttle boondoggle.
In Ben Rich's book, Skunk Works, Ben's boss, Kelly Johnson warned him about allowing the Pentagon to interfere with the day-to-day operations. He knew that the stealth fighter project would take ten times as long, cost ten times as much money and probably not work right if the pentagon brass were allowed to interfere. (What would have happened if the EPA found out they were using asbestos on the wings?)
Fortunately Johnson was ballsy enough to keep the bureaucrats out.
"I'm counting the last 15 years since people say it is still in the "testing phase".
I said "not operational" not "testing phase". The STS is a test bed system in certification for flight, but it performs its set of tasks without operational certification. The last TWENTY-FIVE years have seen a lot of work performed from Shuttle in addition to ongoing upgrades and flight testing.
"Probably, but that doesn't make it right."
And neither does it make it WRONG.
"It's more of an argument for reviewing military procurement than justifying the shuttle boondoggle."
Non-operational systems are highly monitored because they are unpredictable, military and civilian alike. Boondoggle is a sloppy term for both circumstances. The military's penchant for tech exploration and often stillborn concepts has resulted in some VERY good weapons rising to the top of the stack. They have oversight, to be sure, but if we strangled the military like some want to strangle NASA, we might as well start learning Russian and Chinese phrases.
"...Kelly Johnson warned him about allowing the Pentagon to interfere with the day-to-day operations. He knew that the stealth fighter project would take ten times as long, cost ten times as much money and probably not work right if the pentagon brass were allowed to interfere. (What would have happened if the EPA found out they were using asbestos on the wings?)
Fortunately Johnson was ballsy enough to keep the bureaucrats out."
That's a VERY true statement. If you examine the leadership of the Executive Branch and of NASA of the time, you would see that only balls and not brains were in evidence. Bill Clinton and Dan Goldin screwed NASA like a $10 whore. And the Russians were let into the peep show on the cheap.
There is incredible institutional damage to fix.