I wrote a paper while I was doing my phys/astro degree on why the shuttle was bad for the US space program. This was a major reason for it because every acciden

I wrote a paper while I was doing my phys/astro degree on why the shuttle was bad for the US space program. This was a major reason for it because every accident was guaranteed death for the astronauts, which then guaranteed a shutdown of all manned launches for months. NASA has been cash-strapped since the 70s but they can still absorb and recover from lost rockets (with astronauts ejected vertically), whereas lost life leaves a scar on the organization.