On borrowed time (Image: JSC/NASA)
Not so long ago, space was the Wild West, the celestial frontier. It was conquered by a few brave pioneers who confronted the unknown, ascending into the heavens on fiery rockets and racing to the moon.
This heroic era came to an end with the space shuttle. As sleek as a freight wagon, as futuristic as a washing machine, the shuttle was not exactly the stuff of Star Trek. Yet what it lacked in romance it would make up for in day-to-day efficiency, or so we were told. The point of the shuttle was…
