The shuttle and the ISS need to go, they are two large albatrosses on an already bloated budget. NASA has shown us how not, to run a civilian agency funded by the government. Rather then exploring space, NASA concerned itself on trying to retain jobs by holding onto dead technology and frivolous endeavors.

I'm glad the space shuttle is getting it's nail in the coffin. It's time to move on and open space to the private market. What NASA should have been doing was holding contests with private firms competing with each other on developing a more efficient launch mechanism, or building an actual reusable space vessel.

The government should have rode on the back of the private industry vying for power in a brand new market in space, instead of giving an incompetent budget whore in NASA free reign in space to monopolize and ensure that humanity will never truly explore the wonders above for quiet sometime.

Maybe we'll just outsource the shuttling to China. I heard today they purposefully crashed an object into the moon, and plan to go there in a couple years.