Once upon a time, mail would get to the right town with just a zip code. Once there, it was up to the local office to figure out exactly where the address was. These days, 99% of US mail is sorted successfully by machine with optical readers. But if your handwriting is so bad that the machines can't decipher it, or if the envelope got wet and the ink ran, it will be sent to the Remote Encoding Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. Or rather, a picture of it will be sent there. At this level of sorting, a combination of human and computer power will use a strange but effective system of comparison to figure out where that mail is supposed to go. If they can't do it, the last resort is completely human before the postal service gives up and returns it. Tom Scott give us a look inside the Remote Encoding Center to see how it's done.
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On the other hand, the Soyuz launcher, which was a derivative of the Sputnik launcher, is probably the most successful rocket design in history. The Saturn V was far more powerful, but the Soyuz launcher is the one that's still in production today.
First object in space
First living thing in space
First man in space(first orbit)
First woman in space
Longest stay in space
First ship-to-ship docking
First space station
First EVA(spacewalk)
First interplanetary object(probe)
First probe to the Moon(rover)
US Space Firsts:
Moon shot.
First to get a spacecraft through the asteroid belt
First to flypast jupiter
First to flypast Saturn
First to flypast Uranus
Furthest Man Made object in History
First to use a 7 man space vehicle
First to discover Van Allen belts
First re-usable spacecraft
probably more. I'm not american though
You are already seeing it. The first time the US has had no capability to put a person in orbit since the early sixties. Coming to a superpower near you...
Also...the first time the US has relied solely on their former enemies to get them into space.
Two mighty achievements of complete ineptitude. That has to be worth something.
But not to worry - the US still has twelve aircraft carriers - :\
Thanks to the USA and the various partners involved, the shuttle program changed the way the whole world looks at space travel. There are now companies planning on making a trip to the moon something to do on vacation. And creating a working relationship with former adversaries is the best way to move forward, don't you think? It's what we do, move on, help a former enemy and make lasting peace much more than words on some treaty.
As for the program retiring its shuttles, yes, it is very sad to see them grounded but many people here no longer want the government to keep funding NASA right now when other priorities beckon. NASA still gets money, no worries.
Don't see anything wrong with letting the Indians and Chinese spend some money for a change while they try to prove to the world how advanced they are.
Just because the USA retired its shuttles doesn't mean it is no longer a superpower. Look at the void left on the international scene by the current ''Let's see what happens before I comment'' president. LOL The world needs us even if they don't always want to admit it.