Shuttle retirment may be pushed out

Seems that with the delay of the orion capsule, the US are feeling nervous, with europe having the ATV and China and Russia both having space faring veichles( atleast thats my opinion!)

Shuttle retirment is being reviewed to see if its safe enough to run until 2014 so as to fill the time caused by the extra delay.

Regardless of political agenda, this is a good Idea IMO. The shuttle is still the only spaceship that can bring objects back to earth and that makes it very very valueable.

still think loosing this functionality is a step backwards.

More info here: news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7590449.stm

I agree in principle, however the Shuttle is an old, old machine and it was deeply compromised by both money and politics when it was designed in the 1970s. With 40% of those ever built having exploded killing everyone on board there's a feeling that NASA are pushing their luck as it is - trouble is there's no off the shelf solution to get NASA to 2015 other than keeping the shuttles going.

With 40% of those ever built having exploded killing everyone on board

Wow those are scary odds when you look at it that way. In terms of % of mission losses though its not so frightening. Just goes to show - be wary of statistics.

Would you prefer 40% of all shuttles blew up or 1.6% of shuttle mission end in disaster. They both refer to the same numbers, i.e. 5 shuttles and 120 total missions and 2 losses (number of missions may not be current). Statistics can be used to "prove" just about anything, hence the saying "Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics".