Kaboom!
As much as I like fireworks, I would really advise NASA never to use those space shuttles again. At this rate, they’ll be out of shuttles pretty soon anyway, but still. It’s a ridiculous thing. You can tell just by looking at it. Space travel is supposed to be exciting, fast, and glamorous. This thing looks like a school bus with wings. It should have been replaced long ago. But that won’t happen for years. You could, of course, send things up with conventional rockets. But there is still a lot of stuff that shuttles are uniquely suited for. So where can you find more shuttles? The answer lies in Russia. In the USSR, to be precise. Something a lot of people don’t know is that the Russians also had their own shuttle program. It was called Buran (Blizzard). And it was safer, cheaper and could carry a bigger payload. As usual with space related technology, the Soviets simply did it better. Anyone remember how many space firsts the US had compared to the USSR? Anyway, I know there’s at least one of them still around. And probably lots of parts. Of course, this idea has already been claimed. But will it happen? This concept doesn’t only have practical concerns working against it. It also has to deal with patriotism and prejudice. And that may be even worse.
Interested? Call Molniya (their site has some films of Buran in action!).
10:23:48 PM 
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