“Is it still flying?”
I have been asked that question many times. Back in 2011, I was proud to answer “yes.” But the answer is now “no,” which angers many in the space community, and also leads some portion of the public to believe that NASA is dead.
That is, of course, not true. Manned spaceflight, which is what most people think of when they hear NASA, is in a lull. But fans of America's ongoing national space program point to the amazing robotics work NASA continues to do on other worlds, as well as our constant presence on the International Space Station.
“Did that really fly in space?”
That's the question I heard most this weekend, at the grand opening of the space shuttle Atlantis exhibit at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor’s Complex.