Ah, finally. After the longest two days I can recall, this week is on its way out. And it may be a big day, as (if the weather cooperates, which last I saw was unlikely), today will be the 135th and final launch of the 30 year space shuttle program. That’s an average of 4.5 launches a year (and you may recall there were a couple gaps in there, after one shuttle exploded on takeoff and another burned up on reentry), turning manned spaceflight into something about as pedestrian as a flight to Hawaii. In a sign of how far we’ve fallen, the nation that put a man on the moon (or constructed one of the most elaborate hoaxes in modern history – take your pick) will soon not even have the ability to launch people into orbit. Instead, we have to grovel to the Russians (of all people) to hitch a ride. In my humble opinion, this is pretty humiliating. I also feel the need to point out that the NASA budget is something like $18 billion, amounts to just a hair more than one half of one percent of the US Federal budget, and has been responsible for an amazing amount of private sector science and technology. Personally, I think it’s been a bargain. But we don’t approve of all that sciencey stuff these days, and that money would be better off being spent by Wall Street millionaires, so let’s give it to them.<\/p>\n