Shuttles grounded

The shuttle fleet has been officially grounded until the foam insulation problem is fixed. Foam falling off the external fuel tanks are still a risk that could be devastating to future shuttles and their crews.

Chicago Sun Times
NY Times
CNN

Hopefully this will finally get fixed and we have to wait a couple more years before another shuttle launch.

Debris fell off Discovery

It looks as though debris fell off the space shuttle discovery during liftoff. I really hope that everything is ok with the shuttle and the crew is able to make it back safely to earth after their space flight. Could this be the final straw and the end of the space shuttle program? How is the International space station going to be maintained and serviced. The russians? The russian space program is completely broke and I do not believe that they would be able to keep up trips to to the station without investments into their program from other International Space Station Partners. Could this also be the end of the International space station also? There are a lot of questions and a lot of this is speculation by me, but i’m sure other people are thinking the same thing I am. This story is developing and I would appreciate comments and concerns over this.