Goodbye, Space Shuttle: Now the Space Race Can Really Begin

Goodbye, Space Shuttle: Now the Space Race Can Really Begin | Wired Science | Wired.com: "In truth, the shuttle’s retirement could actually make the U.S. space program stronger, by finally allowing the shuttle’s two users — NASA and the Pentagon — to go their separate ways in space, each adopting space vehicles best suited to their respective missions. “When I hear people say, or listen to media reports, that the final shuttle flight marks the end of U.S. human space flight, I have to say … these folks must be living on another planet,” NASA administrator Charlie Bolden said in a July 1 speech at the National Press Club in Washington."