A note a friend wrote me re: restarting Shuttle----
Well, I don't think you're nuts but just a little (well, a LOT) unrealistic---no way that infrastructure could be put back in place—even IF the politics turned around! No doubt killing Shuttle was the DUMBEST NASA mistake ever (and, as you know, that's saying a LOT!) but you don't seriously think NASA (Bolden and whomever his successor is) and Congress or others would ever admit they made a big mistake. Now, 2 plus years after dismantling the infrastructure—and the Orbiters—and ending the ET production, etc., technically there is NO WAY (even for, say, $20B—what we'll waste in the next 5 years on SLS and Commercial Cargo) it could be resurrected! This is my 50th year at NASA (although I've been fully retired for 2 years) and I've seen it all---but, nope, it's sadly over. And, I don't just mean Shuttle, I mean Human Spaceflight as we knew it for 48 years! Maybe in 10 years (or even 5-7, if Republicans get control) there will be some semblance of a new mission and vision---but I was always the eternal optimist! Sorry, Bobby, but you need to change your last name to Quixote!
Sent from my iPad
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