From what I have learned of this attempt to fly the Shuttles again, it really did make good sense. Both from the standpoint of getting the Shuttle and its amazing capability back to work, and also that it was not going to hinder NASA in its developement of the SLS and Orion vehicle.
Why it fell apart is something I doubt will ever be answered. At least, not with an answer that is satisfactory.
The Shuttle was a great machine, and it is not just people like me, and I assume people like those who post on this board, who love the machine and the idea that it embodied, but also investors who would go to great lenghts to put together a proposal and try to get NASA to stop destroying the Shuttles before the plan could go into action.
I look forward to their announcement of the new Shuttle-capable project. Orion has great potential in that it will carry humans further from Earth than ever before, but the Shuttle, with its capability and re-usability, needs to be built on, not cast aside as the exception to the rule of space craft. As that lone odd ball vehicle that had a payload bay, was resusable, in a sea of capsules that lithobrake back to Eartha and are cast away after its one flight.
