A SPACE SHUTTLE RETROSPECTIVE: The Role of the Space Shuttle in Human Spaceflight

摘要

In 1986, space historian and policy analyst John Logsdon wrote: In the aftermath of the January 1986 Challenger accident... The shuttle is likely to be used only for those missions for which it is particularly qualified, and any notion that it can ever be operated routinely or cheaply has been abandoned. Thus, while the space shuttle is an impressive technological achievement and gives the United States capabilities for manned operations in space that no other country possesses, the shuttle program must be assessed as a policy failure, at least in terms of meeting the objectives that have been its articulated rationale since 1972.