So, it certainly will be a sad day for U.S. space shuttle lovers. Next Friday, they'll be watching Shuttle Atlantis blast off for the very last time.
Well, John Zarrella takes a look back at the U.S. shuttle program and why NASA has decided to pull the plug.
From the beginning it was a marvelous machine, releasing from its cargo bay deep-space probes like Ulysses that went to Jupiter.
Astronauts ventured out untethered.
The trip to solar max estimated to take 10 minutes.
To capture and retrieve failed satellites, dead in space -- dangerous feats unheard of before shuttle.
Houston, I think we've got a satellite.
The great observatory Hubble dazzles with breathtaking images of the universe, and its ability to see galaxies born nearly at the dawn of time.
Hubble has arrived onboard Atlantis with the arm.
Hubble was launched, repaired and serviced from shuttle.
Every major building block of the football-field-long space station was carried up and assembled from shuttle.
Before becoming NASA's head man, Charlie Bolden was an astronaut.
He flew four shuttle flights, including the Hubble launch.
I defy anybody -- and I will argue with my Apollo comrades --
the accomplishments, the achievements, the record of performance, the spinoffs, the capabilities that have been developed --
what we did in shuttle over 30 years dwarf[s] what was done in the Apollo era.
We can build spacecraft. We can build hardware. We can build boosters. But there's no goal. There's no mission.
We are wandering in a desert in space today, period.
So why now? Why call it quits now?
From the time of its inception 40 years ago until the shuttles are retired, the program will have cost the American taxpayers just shy of $115 billion;
that's less than $4 billion a year -- a drop, if that, in the federal budget.
Still, the problem is money.
There's just not enough money in NASA to continue the existing programs and start a new program at the same time.
Was it time?
Yes, it was time. And it has been time for some time to phase out of shuttle and go back to exploration.
Whether you hated it or hailed it, whether you felt it a waste or worth it,
the shuttle was an iconic flying machine that symbolized America's inspiration and ingenuity.
Roger roll.