End of NASA Shuttle Program Gets Mixed Responses

Friday, 14 May 2010 | by Pat's Picks

An editorial in today’s Orlando Sentinel throws its support behind President Obama’s decision to end NASA’s space shuttle program. The loss of high-paying jobs on the Space Coast is outweighed by the danger of the shuttle program, which “depends on decades-old technology.” The paper says the agency would be better served by using its resources to modernize, writing that “NASA has worlds to explore beyond low-Earth orbit, the realm of space shuttles.”

Astronaut Susan Still Kilrain disagrees. Kilrain, who commanded two 1997 missions on the space shuttle Columbia, told the Augusta Chronicle that she was sad to see the shuttle program end, saying it’s “what made space travel a common occurrence.” She urged the president “to find a way to continue manned flight.”