This is probably the most impressive aspect of the STS, the power off landing of something with a glide ratio of a brick. Not to mention the fact that the orbiters are at the point where they belong in an museum.

I just wish the shuttle replacement were more of a step forward technologywise, rather than son of Apollo.

The shuttle was always more of a technology demonstrator than a "production" launch system. Think of it this way, first there was the Dash 80 prototype which became the 707, followed by the 720 (not a lot of people know about this one), then the 727, then 737, 747, 757, 767, 777, now 787. NASA seemed to think that they could skip right from the Dash 80 to the 787 in a single step with the shuttle.

They were also too focused on the rocket and space technology, but that only gets you part of the way to an affordable system. They forgot to consider the operational aspects. They basically took a flight test organiztion and tried to operate an airline with it. The way I see it the follow on to the shuttle should have already been in concept phase at the time that Columbia first launched, with a prototype being launched about 6 or 7 years later. And the another 7 years after that and 7 years after that, etc., etc.

Then they somehow should have found somebody to commercialize the technology and then paid them to launch the space station and do the other science and defence related launches. This is the model that got the aviation business going. In the early days, airmail was the bread and butter of the airlines. They didn't make any money carrying passengers. The postal service didn't really need some of the airmail routes, but it was an intentional step to kick start the airline industry.

Don't even get me started talking about Challenger or Columbia!