Space Shuttle program will cease this year. Since 2011 no more Space Shuttle launches will occur and currently there is no new spacecraft as a replacement. Maybe Space Shuttle failed to reach the cost per launch or payload goals, but it was somewhat an icon of a future space era – the first real vehicle, not a rudimentary rocket, capable of taking off into space and then landing ready to be reused, much as a standard airplane.I wonder what NASA will do while waiting for new rocket vectors (ready in 2014), what kind of shuttle bus will provide ISS astronauts rotation.
So long Space Shuttle, you will be missed.