Retirement Plans (not my own)

[krpalmer]

Via the Bad Astronomy weblog, I noticed a report suggesting that after space shuttle Atlantis completes a mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope, it won't be flying again. As with the weblog post, I do feel a little odd about hearing that. I did know that every space shuttle mission completed (a source of possibly exaggerated relief for me) is now supposed to be a step towards their retirement, but a piece of definite news like that makes it feel a little more real to me. Of course, given that you can scratch under the right rocks online and find calm disdain for the practicality of the follow-up spacecraft, maybe I'm again worrying more than I have to.