People in space? Not for a while

When I was fifteen, I went to Cape Canaveral and saw Columbia on the launch pad in late March of 1981, two weeks before she soared into space for the first time. It looked just the same on that pad as I had seen it, as I watched the countdown on CNN. And then the vapour started spewing, the excited countdown I remembered from being a very little boy, that countdown that sent men to the moon... and she was off.

I've seen the space shuttle a few times since. I saw the Enterprise fly over Parliament hill on the back of her transport, a 747 or other large plane. And I always caught the launches on CNN, even the sad ill-fated launch of the Challenger carrying the first school teacher to go to space. The space shuttle has been part of the fabric of life, from the heroic (the daring space walk that fixed the Hubble telescope) to the ridiculous (diaper-clad stalker space cadets!)

But sadly this part the shuttle has played in my life and all our lives is coming to an end. In 2010, the last space shuttle will fly, and those craft will be consigned to history. On January 21 of that year, flight STS-132 by the Endeavor shuttle will end the Orbiter era.

I don't think many people are aware of this. The regular transit of people into space seems commonplace to us now. But it won't be soon; the Orion vehicle that will replace the shuttle will not be ready until 2015 at the earliest - NASA will not be sending people into space for five years or more!