Godspeed Discovery!

So Discovery has made it into space with a seemingly flawless launch.

Seems a bit of overkill that NASA is worried about a 1 inch 'object' damaging Discovery's heatshell, but paranoia in this case is better than complacency.

I've always found it strange that a multibillion dollar space program uses stick-on heat tiles!

Ultimately, the Shuttle is a 30 year old design that desperately needs to be replaced, not by something 'Better, Cheaper, Faster'. (Still can't beleive that the NASA honcos bought into this dogma.. I thought the saying was "We can do things either Better, Cheaper or Faster - pick two.")

Burt Rutan and SpaceShipOne have shown the way with a brilliantly designed and executed program, NASA really needs to hire Burt as a consiltant..