It doesn't get people interested in the space program, it just makes them think they can't do their jobs competently. The space shuttle is a disaster of a proj

It doesn't get people interested in the space program, it just makes them think they can't do their jobs competently. The space shuttle is a disaster of a project. The reason people aren't interested in the stuff NASA is doing is because it's not interesting. The whole space shuttle and IIS are complete boondoggles that derailed the space program. People care about the Mars Rover or when actually experiments take place that discover something, but just doing your routine job isn't new anymore. IMHO, NASA should no longer exist, perhaps a new organization could replace it (hopefully privately funded) that could be allowed to take risks and try new things without the massive bureaucratic overhead and political games.