It was a surprising decision, because the UK takes no part (and therefore contributes no funds towards) any human spaceflight programmes.
No architect has been employed, nor any deal struck with a spaceflight company.
Terminating the shuttle program abruptly, while attractive from some points of view, carries with it grave consequences for the United States' pre-eminence in space and would be devastating to the work force necessary to conduct any future human spaceflight program.
"We are not abandoning human spaceflight by any stretch of the imagination," General Bolden said.
The term is commonly applied to any of various vehicles, including firework skyrockets, guided missiles, and launch vehicles used in spaceflight, driven by any propulsive device that is independent of the atmosphere.
"Within the scope and limitations of this review, I was unable to verify any case in which an astronaut spaceflight crewmember was impaired on launch day," Mr. O'Connor wrote.
Thanks to social media, and Nasa's decision to let astronauts manage their own digital personas, we get to know individual crew members better than we have at any other time in the history of spaceflight.
He added that while the failed launch is a reminder of the challenges of spaceflight, it will not deter any future launches or plans for the agency's spaceflight program.
It is heretical to say it in many quarters, but unlike its astronomy and robotic exploration programs, the current NASA operated human spaceflight program has failed by any rational measure in almost every respect to achieve any of the milestones put forth by those who sold them to the American people so long ago.
The panel in fact could find no program that "permits human exploration to continue in any meaningful way" within the $100 billion for human spaceflight over the next decade.
