http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/oped-06a.html

Jeffrey Bell made that prediction more than a month ago...

"So in May we will again see video clips from Shuttle foamcams on our TV screens, with chunks of flying foam circled in red. Griffin will appear at a press conference with a suitably grave face and announce:

'I am shocked... shocked to learn that 3.5 years of work and many billions of dollars have failed to solve this grave safety defect. Clearly we cannot afford to spend more years and more billions wrestling with this flawed system. The 2010 deadline for Shuttle retirement is fast approaching, and the European and Japanese ISS research modules are nearing the end of their shelf lives. I am forced to ground the Shuttles for good' "

I think the suggestion that they would intentionally launch a mission with the intention of trying to end the program all together is just idiotic. I don't like the Shuttle or ISS - but ISS has to be finished, and it has to be finished with the Shuttle.

Doug