Space Shuttle - The Final Flight

After 30 years and 135 missions the Space Shuttle was retired from service. An important function of the transport system was to build and develop the International Space Station. The ISS is an ongoing project and will now heavily rely on the Russians to service this international platform.

Co-operation is paramount and any Cold War or underlying problems must be absent by inference. An irony is that the conflict between the two countries initiated the Space Race from which the ISS  was ultimately created. World events seem to have gone from conflict to co-operation. This is encouraging for a future of harmony.

It's why the land-based world events seem so peculiar and inexplicable.

25.08.2011

• Russia has grounded its fleet of Soyuz rockets after an unmanned spacecraft carrying cargo for the ISS crashed shortly following launch - more

What happens now?