Over its lifetime the shuttle carried out a more diverse range of missions than any other launch system in existence. It also resulted in the most studied disaster in history.

With the rise of private spaceflight, it has become 'fashionable' to look back on the Shuttle only for its shortcomings. It is too easy to forget how far ahead of its time the Shuttle was when it first launched, and what it gave back to us. Unfortunately, this risky technology also got ahead of NASA's ability to properly manage it.

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