PIE IN THE SKY, WITH YOUR DOUGH.  The Space Shuttle makes its last run.

The space shuttle was pitched to America as cheap, safe and reliable. It was none of those.

I recall one evaluation of the space program as a folly: the space station designed in such a way that the shuttle could get to it, and the principal reason for the shuttle was to haul stuff to the space station (and haul the garbage away, something it will do on its last trip).  It probably also crowded out research and funding for genuine deep-space exploration, beginning at the Moon and working outward toward Mars and Jupiter.  Where would we be today, if after a few trips to the Caribbean, the Spanish explorers limited their trips to the Canary Islands?

Ending the program with no clear future in sight is unsettling for [Northern Illinois University observatory manager Matt] Wiesner, who hopes it doesn’t lead the United States to lose its foothold as a leader in space exploration.

“The space shuttle program is ending, and we don’t have the next program in place,” he said. “We’ve been leaders. We should not lose our place as leaders in science and technology, and we’re starting to.”

Many people are lost in the cynicism that everything already has been discovered, Wiesner said, which isn’t true. He said we barely understand the solar system Earth is in, and it was only in 1995 that the first of thousands of possible planets outside of our solar system was discovered. Little is known about dark matter, which makes up a quarter of the universe, he added.

Space exploration is relevant to life on Earth, [physics professor David] Hedin said. For example, by studying the atmospheres of other planets in the solar system, more can be learned about global warming.

But perhaps the shuttle had unintended consequences.

Yet despite all that, there were some big achievements that weren’t promised: major scientific advances, stunning photos of the cosmos, a high-flying vehicle of diplomacy that helped bring Cold War enemies closer and something to brag about.

Rand Simberg offers six false lessons of the shuttle program that merit further study.  In his view, orbital mission technology is sufficiently advanced to be opened to competition.