Space shuttle Columbia dissinegrates on re-entry

[geoboy]

You really can't rush these things, though. Why can't the next 5 years be nothing but unmanned missions? There is far more to be learned with the mechanical technology than the often pointless expiriments humans do in space. I am aware that there is an operational space station which we shouldn't abandon. It gives the U.S. and Russia (among other countries) something constructive to do together.

At any rate, when I said "automated", I meant that computers do all the work navigating and stuff while humans aboard the shuttle just enjoy the ride or monitor gauges. That's almost the way it is now, but there is still quite a bit of manual work that done.