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An image of a space shuttle seen from above, heading to the right. The shuttle is mostly in the dark, with some light on the right wing where it says "Endeavour". There are lights on the open payload bay. There are clouds below, partly illuminated by sunlight, more so to the left than the right.

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An image of a space shuttle seen from above, heading to the right. The shuttle is mostly in the dark, with some light on the right wing where it says "Endeavour". There are lights on the open payload bay. There are clouds below, partly illuminated by sunlight, more so to the left than the right.
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Mark McCaughrean (markmccaughrean@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 04-Apr-2025 13:50:47 JST Mark McCaughrean

Still one of the coolest machines ever built.
Ending the shuttle programme felt to me the same way grounding Concorde did. Both gone, but in many ways, unsurpassed.
I know all the arguments about cost, safety, & govt vs private. I also know that we absolutely have more pressing concerns in the world than human spaceflight & supersonic jet liners.
But still ...
OV-105 as seen from the ISS on 9 December 2000, ISS-001-E-4571

In conversation about 14 days ago from mastodon.social permalink