The Challenger disaster didn't just kill seven astronauts and destroy millions of dollars worth of equipment. It ripped the guts out of NASA. It is no longer the organisation the put men on the Moon. It's no longer even the organisation that designed and built the Shuttles. It's the organisation that can't send an unmanned probe to Mars, because of stupid screw-ups. They returned to the original insignia, but not the original spirit. Sad, really.
Look I'm just a layman, but it's clear we are not getting the bang for the buck. Short, mid and long term planning seems non-existant. About every three years they announce some plan that seems for all the world to emulate a slow motion train wreck.
Job one is an SSTO space plane. It must be capable of launching somewhere between two and five times as much payload as the shuttle.
I cannot emphasise this enough. Without this space plane, we are forever affixed to the surface of this planet. Costs for entering space will not deminish. We will never have a turn-around time of less than a few days unless we adopt this plan and implement it.
The day we lauch the first of these operational SSTO space planes, our world will be forever changed. Doesn't that represent a goal that is worth persuing? By all indications, not until 2012.
Thanks for nothing NASA.