Comments on: Shuttle Endeavour set for grueling station mission

The space shuttle is poised for launch Saturday on a grueling 16-day space station assembly mission featuring five spacewalks and extensive work with three robotic arms.

[Spacevidcast]

Wow, it has been a long time since the STS mission number and the number of shuttle flights has matched up like that. I looked at STS-127 and thought "that's not the 127th mission"... Then did a bit of work and realized, yes, actually it is!

[TomMariner]

Why in heaven are we scuttling our Shuttle fleet without a subsitute?

No, I don't want to keep flying these big dinosaurs, but these 10 year projects to replace them are stupid, incompetent, bureaucratic boondoggles. The Lockheed Skunkworks delivered an SR71 that flew two years after they signed the contract. But you have to want to do it and you have to get all non-essential people out of the way. And most importantly, you have to have techies in total charge who understand how to run a development project that produces a great product.

I know space is a toogh place, but kids, we have forty years of experience and we got to the moon and back in less than 10 years from a standing start. It is a national embarassment to stop our progress now.

Where are the Kelly Johnson's that got us all of those amazingly edge of the envelope designs that flew higher, faster and were delivered quicker than anyone thought possible? C'mon -- somebody step up to the plate because the folks we have now are either too timid or unmotivated to accomplish great things.

[freemarket--2008]

It takes money and political and public support. NASA can't just say here's what we're doing--now write us a check.

The goal is a permanent presence on the Moon and/or Mars. That is an order of magnitude harder than just dropping in for a visit.