For myself, I definitely don't think so. An acquaintance who once worked for NASA, thinks it was a good idea, but the development and the flights of the spacecraft were mismanaged. My own view is that the shuttle represents the (very expensive) desire of those who managed NASA through the era of Apollo and the moon fllights, to maintain a continuous series of space flights by astronauts after the end of Apollo. When it became clear that the U.S. wasn't going back to the moon after the last Apollo flight, it looks as though the NASA hierarchy decided that it had to produce something that people would see as a true spaceship, which they presumably would be more willing to pay for over several decades, than an ungainly-looking capsule like the Russian Soyuz.

What actually happened, of course, was that the shuttle consumed practially all the financing for space exploration by this country for more than three decades. Yes, the U.S. probably has a classified spaceplane, developed from the old X-15 design, but it most likely is only used for military purposes like espionage. (I doubt that Aurora, also classified and probably a pulse jet, can go above the stratosphere.) But the only spacecraft which this country has used to put astronauts into space, since the 1970's, is the shuttle--which is actually a glider rather than a powered craft. It has fallen far short of all the capabilities it was originally supposed to have, and the cost of launching the shuttle is probably the reason why the International Space Station amounts to so little. NASA did also launch the Mars missions, but those accomplished a lot less than the could have, if there had been more money to spend on them.

It costs well over half a billion dollars for one launch of the shuttle. You could send a number of heavy lifter rockets into space for that sum. I'm not sure that the voters in this country, or Congress, care enough about space exploration that they would have financed some other way to send astronauts or scientific exploration equipment into space, but the Shuttle hasn't really done anything to motivate people to continue financing a space exploration effort. There is going to be a space program in the future, but I doubt that it will accomplish as much as it could have, if the U.S. had taken a different course than making the shuttle nearly all of its space program for the last thirty years.

I think the Shuttle has been a mixed bag. Greatest successes would have to be in-space Hubble repairs. Keeping Hubble working (and fitting it with contact lenses way back when) has advanced our knowledge of the Universe immeasurably.

The cost in lives of the two lost crews being the most horrific losses. As well as glaring failures by management who with better concerns with safety could have prevented at least one of the ships from being lost.

Batman

Launching the Hubble Space Telescope was a grand success. A device that delicate could not have been launched without human help. And the information the Hubble has provided has change science (physics, astronomy, our understanding of the universe) forever. It is a great a success as the telescope itself. Civilization counts itself Before Galileo and after Galileo. Physics counts itself Before Einstein and After Einstein and the Hubble (along with its offspring - the Spitzer Telescope (UV spectra), the Chandra (x-rays) and the James Webb (infrared) or the already launched (I think) Herschel and Plank telescopes.

We did good with space shuttles and telescopes.

In my opinion, one of the very few things separating man from God's other creatures is that man's reach should exceed his grasp.

No Doubt !

Yes It Has.

Unlike a capsule, as has been pointed out, the Shuttle allows persons to work in space as in fixing the Hubble as demanded by the American people when it was on the chopping block.

And I doubt we know all the spin off technology from developing the Shuttle that has filtered down to our lives today.

Unfortunately, the Shuttle is 30 year old technology. Okay, with computer upgrades, I just hope they did not change Microsoft XP for Vista.

It is unfortunate that NASA has decided to abandon the Shuttle concept and never developed, Space Shuttle II as they should have done over a decade ago.

Moi

some say I'm a space cadet

Oh dear, I think seriously that I am becomming quite a "grouchy old man" and this particular subject (the space shuttle) really makes it clear to me. I really have turned into a hate filled person.

The short answer to the question, NO! NO THE SPACE SHUTTLE PROGRAM HAS BEEN A HORRIBLE WASTE!

I could lay out my reasons for my deep and abiding hatred for NASA and the space shuttle, but very few people would understand. This is so odd, because normally I am on guard against letting my hatred get to me, but NASA and the space shuttle are the exception. If it were in my power, I would fire all persons associated with the space shuttle and condemn them to minimum wage jobs for the remainder of their lives....

When I think about my feelings on the space shuttle... Even I find it hard if not downright impossible to believe that I wrote this not even a year ago:

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