"I no longer expect to see boot prints on Mars during my lifetime, nor do I expect that whoever eventually makes those boot prints will be drawing a paycheck from NASA, or even speaking English.

During shuttle missions, you couldn’t wander past the old Saturn 5 rockets sitting outside at the Johnson and Kennedy Space Centers and not wonder in awe what giants had built these rockets that had sent humans all the way to the Moon. I can’t help feeling that someday we’ll walk past those shuttles now on their way to museums and admire their creature comforts and flexibility and the aerodynamic research that went into learning how to fly at Mach 25. And wonder who built them.

I wish Commander Christopher Ferguson and his comrades a safe and glorious flight aboard their flawed but magnificent chariot.

And bigger and braver dreams for us all in the future."

As Shuttle Era Ends, Dreams of Space Linger
Dennis Overbye, New York Times