End of the shuttle era

A 50ft boom extension attached to Discovery's robot arm is seen against the backdrop of the Earth as the Discovery crew prepares to search for any damage to the nose and wing. Photograph: Nasa TV/AP

Nasa's flight operations manager, John Shannon, says the bodywork of its fleet of space shuttles has suffered thousands of instances of damage over the years. But when video footage appears to show debris falling off the fuel tank and landing gear doors, Discovery begins to look far removed from the reusable space plane it was once claimed as. In fact, it looks old. This follows a two-week delay to liftoff because of a faulty fuel sensor.

There is a degree of perceptions here. Debris is a matter of concern because it ripped the hole in Columbia's wing in 2003 and caused it to disintegrate upon its re-entry to Earth. We see it because we are looking for it – likewise after Columbia and the earlier Challenger explosion, media and other observers are much more aware of safety issues. But while it is true the shuttles are space age technology, it is 1970s space age technology. Nasa plans to retire the fleet when the International Space Station is completed in 2010 and their cargo bays are of no further use. A shuttle liftoff is still awesome to watch, but some of the shininess has gone.

A piece in the Christian Science Monitor on the launch describes it as a launch into the shuttle's final era:

Few expect these last five years to be a victory lap for the shuttle era, which has extended through seven presidential administrations and 114 launches

With the president's wish to return to the moon and then strike out for Mars, the greatest goal of the shuttles now is to finish the long-delayed task of completing the space station as safely and quickly as possible, and then to disappear.