A piece of 1970’s technology that has already suffered a couple of critical failures. What could go wrong?
Shutting it down wasn't wrong.
Building it in the first place was wrong.
Having built it, shutting it down without a replacement was wrong.
The space shuttle as built by Rockwell was an aged design that performed reasonably well over it’s service life. Yes, there were design flaws that were later corrected. When it was retired, it was time for the Space Shuttle system to go. The main problem was that there wasn’t a truly viable alternative in place to succeed it. There were ideas, but nothing really solid.
Then the mediots elected Onambla and NASA was tunred into a muslim outreach agency and it’s funding slashed to pay for EBT cards for the Free $h!t Army.
Should we have built a follow-on system absolutely. But in true Onambla style, everything has gone to pot.
And built by the lowest bidder, or more likely, the largest campaign contributor.
A multi-part solid-fuel rocket sealed with temperature- sensitive gaskets, and then launched outside its certified temperature range. What could go wrong?