Orion is no more than a bigger more advanced Apollo capsule. Not a true ship at all. It still requires parachutes after re-entry and still splashes down in the ocean. Meanwhile instead of doing what they should have done while STS was still flying was to, not invest in, but build the replacement years ago. Think about it, the shuttle was first designed in the late seventies, first flew in the early eighties and you mean to tell me they could not have produced a viable replacement inside of thirty years? Bullshit! The Air Force has been flying their own space plane for two years now. Its already proved itself during its orbital flight and the turn around is a lot faster and that without a crew. So...who's foolin' who? Too much emphasis was put on using STS and not enough on improving STS. How hard would it have been to use one of the shuttles as a flying test bed for new avionics and/or designs, engines etc. You're supposed to build on what works not run it into the ground and then worry about what will replace it. Damn idiot politicians!
I agree, it is beyond stupid that a replacement isn't already in place. People have been coming up with designs for a potential shuttle replacement practically since the shuttle first launched.
The Orion, despite similarities to Apollo, does build on the technology of the shuttle. The capsules are reusable for one thing. Orion is much better for actually landing on other planets than any space plane. Until we have runways on the Moon, things like the space shuttle will never be able to land there. And taking off like airplane is terribly ineffecient if you want to get to orbit or beyond (and once again you would need a runway). If you want to land on the Moon or Mars or an asteroid, you need something more like Apollo than the Shuttle. It's also cheaper for the most part, unless you are doing a lot of launches.
Upgrading the shuttle was pretty much out of the question. The program was already way over budget, and even if it wan't you can't really just slap a new set of engines on it or anything like that. It would probably be cheaper to just build something new than try to significantly upgrade the existing shuttles.
Yeah, the Air Force has a space plane (that started as NASA's). So? Robotic flights are (comparatively) easy. The point isn't about having a space plane, it's about having a way to get humans to orbit and beyond.
Exactly, they couldn't even bother to make a viable replacement before they let STS end! I don't want to see Orion ever leave the ground, since it is little more than a rehash of 50 year old technology.
Well then, you can say goodbye to the US manned space program, because that's the only thing being developed.
