/sci/ - Science & Math

>>12157174
*Enterprise

>>11930649
The Shuttle got a lot of good work done in space, from fixing Hubble to building the ISS, but I think the most important thing it did was inspire people. Having such a massive reusable orbiter was a point of national pride, and let people imagine a better future in space that wasn't just featherweight tin cans and expendable rockets forever. It's the first spacecraft that even contemporary scifi media could point to in universe and say "this was a real spaceship by our future standards" rather than the Wright Brothers type treatment that Apollo got.