We have a space program. NASA isn't going away. It puts probes on/around planets and asteroids and advances science (but not SCIENCE! which is what people tend

We have a space program. NASA isn't going away. It puts probes on/around planets and asteroids and advances science (but not SCIENCE! which is what people tend to get miffed about). If need be we could even start using our own rockets to get humans into space, it's just more cost effective to pay the Russians to do so. Of course, throwing more money at NASA is actually a pretty good idea, even if the sexier things people want to do are unlikely to get off the ground in the near term (say 50 years or so). But a reusable shuttle was never cost effective for manned spaceflight at the scale that we did it at.