It’s official: NASA will be retiring the first of its remaining three shuttles by 2008. By doing so, they will avoid a costly overhaul that would be required to keep the orbiter flying for just another two years (the whole fleet will be retired in 2010). Atlantis is scheduled to have just five more missions before it heads to the boneyard — although with the (nonexistant) flight schedule NASA has had lately, I think that’s optimistic. The other two shuttles, Discovery and the much newer Endeavor, will be able to complete all necessary flights between 2008 and 2010.

And so we have the official beginning of the end for the last of the shuttle fleet. Although it is, in a way, the end of an era — the space shuttle is the only American human spaceflight system that has been used in my lifetime — it is clearly long overdue. After the loss of Challenger in 1986 and Columbia in 2003, it has become apparent from the reports of engineers, investigative panels appointed by the government, and astronauts who have actually flown the things that the shuttles are far to dangerous and unreliable. Forunately, the new Crew Exporation Vehicle, due to launch by 2012, shows great promise.