The last landing ...

Of the Space Shuttle Atlantis came off without a hitch. The American manned space program is essentially at an end, with nothing to take its place. From now on, we'll have to depend on the Russians to get any of our people back and forth to the space station. Who'da thought that would happen 30 years ago? A sad commentary about what we were able to achieve as a nation and how far we've fallen since then.

The Atlantis has landed at the Kennedy Space Center, 42 years to the day after the Eagle module of the Apollo 11 mission touched down on the surface of the moon.

Returning to Earth’s terra firma just before dawn in Florida, Atlantis’ final mission was also the 135th and the last of the space shuttle program of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

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I have a feeling that it'll be a long time before we can once again put a man in space as a country, if ever. By the time we're ready to commit, the commercial market will probably have taken over and any government attempt will be superfluous.