Well the last space shuttle launch ever happened this morning: the Atlantis and a crew of 4 launched at Cape Canaveral, Florida at about 11:30 Eastern Time. It's like how the Apollo missions ended: NASA will go quiet for a while until a new type of space shuttle is designed. Sad how the program that has been going on for 30 years is about to end.

Discuss your opinions about all of this.

Well, it's not the last one ever. It's supposed to be the last one by NASA; I guess everyone's kinda hoping it'll just go commercial, now. Personally, I disagree with this; we've only landed people on the moon, so far. Ventures to Mars, for example, shouldn't be left up to commercial companies. There's so much more to document and explore in our solar system that it just seems like a bad idea to me.

Of course, there's also the fact that many little boys, at some point want to be an astronaut. I mean, it's not like that's gone away, but it won't ever be the same for them or for astronauts/cosmonauts (not sure of the difference, tbh). So, although it opens up a lot of opportunities, it also kinda takes away from the prestige of it all, I guess.

What are space programs (NASA-equivalents) for other countries doing right now?? Does anybody know if other ones are shutting down??

I nearly cried when I saw the launch. I hate living in the only country that doesn't a **** about it's space program.

Most other 1st world countries have working space programs (China, Russia, etc.) Sadly, the U.S. cares way too much about it's military power and it's stupid political games to care about science and innovation.

Right, but what I was basically asking was if we're the only one that's shutting down. Also, the military is going through HUGE cutbacks on its funding as well. A lot of people I know's parents have lost their jobs in the Air Force and the Navy, sadly.

Well, to answer your question we are the only space program shutting down. I personally hope the U.S. Military takes control of our space program. Without NASA, about half of the U.S.'s science budget is now unaccounted for. Right now, it looks like companies such as Google and Space X will be taking over space exploration for a while.

Why would the military take over? We're already set up to essentially rent a space program from Russia for continued missions to the ISS for the next several years. There's also still talk of getting a Mars mission up and running in 20 years.

The sad thing isn't the end of the shuttle, it's the fact that, right now, there's nothing to replace it. Hopefully that won't last long.

Well, everything that has a beginning has an end. That’s all I would like to say here in the case of Atlantis as well, guys. Truly, it was one of the most remarkable space shuttles ever to be launched in the history of NASA. A glorious reign of 30 years and 4848 orbits!