Its about time for NASA to once again send a small fleet of astronauts hurtling into low-earth orbit in out-dated, overly-expensive, and apparently demonstrably unsafe technology:

[T]wo top officials at NASA took the unusual step of dissenting from the space agencys decision to go ahead with the launch without correcting the potentially catastrophic problem of foam falling from the external fuel tank. That was the problem that doomed the Columbia 3 1/2 years ago.

The agencys safety director and chief engineer wanted to wait and repair the problem.

Psh, those silly safety directors. Always wanting to wait and repair potentially catastrophic problems. Dont they know that if we address issues that could result in astronauts exploding into a brilliant fireball somewhere over Texas, then the terrorists have already won? Wait, no, thats the rhetoric for dealing with matters of national security. If we fix the problems, then the Martians have already won?

Well, anyway. The point is that the space shuttle is an overpriced boondoggle that should have been retired years ago. It was supposed to be a cheap means of sending astronauts into space that allowed for shuttles to be prepped for re-launch within a week or two. Instead, it costs well over a billion dollars per launch and the downtime is more along the lines of several months.

What sort of super-awesome important missions is the space shuttle accomplishing? Well, we use it to put satellites into orbit at roughly twice the cost-per-pound (PDF) of the next most expensive comparable system. We study micrcogravity. We play International Space House with our friends from around the globe. What were we doing up in orbit the day the Columbia decided it would rather detonate than land safely? We were videotaping space dust. Now, in the space dusts defense, it is probably very interesting. And we apparently discovered an exciting new way in which it glows, or something. But Im skeptical that this was a billion dollars and the lives of 7 astronauts worth of interesting. It was, at best, a hundred grand and the lives of the cast of Stacked worth of interesting.

The point isnt f**k science and exploration, because I can totally get behind that sort of thing. The point isnt f**k space, because I am a complete space nerd, and I would really, really like to go into space some day. The point is, theres got to be a better, safer, and cheaper way to do this stuff. The space shuttle is, to be blunt, a colossal failure. It succeeds at getting people into space, sure. But it fails at doing it cheaply, as the billion-plus dollar price tag demonstrates. It fails at doing it quickly, as the multi-month turnaround time shows. It fails at doing it safely, as the 2% catastrophic failure rate shows. I suppose it does it with a certain style, but even so, I imagined my 21st century spaceships would be looking less like this:

And more like this:

That whole Missions-to-Mars idea that Bush has put forth? Yeah, thats my kind of space exploration. It involves actually doing something that we cant be doing sitting here on Earth: walking on another goddam planet. Every dollar dropped into the sucking maw of the shuttle program is a dollar not dropped into real programs that produce real results. Its also a dollar spent on convincing the public that space exploration is an expensive and pointless endeavor, and thats not an attitude that we want. The sense of unity, pride, and collective accomplishment that real space exploration provides is healthy. It builds character, not unlike eating brussel sprouts and doing your homework.

So please, NASA. Axe the shuttle program. I mean, do we really want the Martians to win? Because f**k those guys.