Despite the scientific community's objections to such an enormous project when smaller, sophisticated, unmanned crafts were available, the shuttle went into production. Officially it was referred to as the Space Transportation System (STS), as if it were a public transit operation, something ongoing and reliable. The best and brightest scientists and engineers were assigned to the job, but the project was plagued by delays and cost overruns. Yet the shuttle was still expected to be absolutely reliable, and for five years and twenty-four flights it was.
After Columbia's successful flight in 1981, the American public took for granted that US rockets no longer blew up as they had in the early days. The space shuttle, like the Soviet Salyut and Mir space stations, set the concept of space exploration in the public mind as something that humans could do on a regular basis. Then on January 28, 1986, Challenger exploded ninety seconds into flight.
The dramatic and tragic Challenger accident was a rude and bitter awakening for the American space program. The shuttle had not been inexpensive nor flexible, and now it proved unsafe and unreliable. Furthermore, it was unable to jump-start the manned space program which had been stalled since Apollo astronaut Neil Armstrong planted the American flag on the Moon in 1969. But as inconceivable as the idea of traveling and probing space had once seemed, it was now equally unthinkable to abandon it. In an attempt to salvage space dreams in the Challenger aftermath, a new shuttle was built, more sophisticated probes were launched, and the space station, the shuttle's intended goal, was placed into development. But despite these advances a certain bitterness from the disaster remained, and in 1991 the Bush administration announced the end of the shuttle program.
