>>>Just watched the last shuttle launch.
>>>
>>>End of an era.
>>
>>Yep. I watched it too ... a "sentimental journey", as someone on NASA TV said.
>>
>>~~Bonnie
>
>I wonder whats next .
>
> The US seems to have no clear path back to space at the moment . The Space X developments are interesting but will take a few years and more cash to get real.
>
>The media here (UK) keep talking about Virgin and their project but seem to forget that is nowhere near orbital. Its basically the equivalent of the old X15 which was flying in the 1950s

There is nothing next at the moment. There have been lulls in U.S. space exploration before, such as the one between the end of the Apollo program and the first space shuttle, but there was always something on the horizon. We are in a very tough economic period. I suspect there is also some skepticism about colonies on the moon, trips to Mars, and so on. It's great to dream. Unfortunately that dream seems to have fizzled here a long time ago. I would peg it at the first Challenger explosion, if not earlier. "I want to put a man on the moon in 10 years" -- ancient history, 50 years ago.