It might be that they are looking at those few items that survived the shuttle break-up and that they are coming to the conclusion that a winged vehicle just doesn't make the grade in the near term. Encapsulated pieces of the shuttle (the crew compartment, certain experiments, etc...) seemed to survive the longest and most intact, while the main body of the shuttle was ripped to shreds by the aerodynamic pressures.

I think we'll eventually return to the winged vehicle designs, but maybe right now isn't the time: IMHO Single stage to orbit will probably happen sometime in the next 50 years, but right now it would be a technological stretch that just isn't worth it in terms of cost vs. benefit.

We'll get there some day, just not yet.

If we could get a reusable capsule that costs half of the shuttle, then in theory we could have 8 "shuttle capsules"...Maybe one configured for cargo shipments, one for hubble repair missions, one for EP's Trip to the Moon, and one Named Raoul configured for a trip to Mars, and still 4 left over for moving crews to and from the Station.

The real effort could then be focused where its needed most: The rocket stages that will propell the beast into the heavens.

Scott Evil