"I don't understand. I thought NASA came into being primarily to launch rockets. Why should they stop now? "

You would think so considering all the money they spend launching the Shuttle and doing the ISS thing, but no, NASA's purpose was to explore space and to encourage space development (that's private sector stuff). NASA is also suppose to help the development of better air planes(which it does do, btw). The purpose of the Shuttle was to develop this technology for the private sector. The idea *was* once the infrastructure (the Shuttle and all the other stuff connected to building and launching the Shuttle, was paid for, the operational costs would be low- everyone knows that if you can lower the cost of getting to space, there are "lots of things" you can do. Everyone knows that the "real money" is in the private sector. Everyone *should know* that the only way to colonize space is by having the private sector "do it". The problem has always been, how to get to CATS.