Is space exploration a thing of the past?  

Hello cher960......

Space exploration is has not stopped, in fact it's entering an exciting new era. Nasa has announced that they plan to have a moon base built by 2020. There is a lot of planning needed.

I think you'll find these sites interesting:
nasa.gov/home/index.html?skipIntro=1
hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2006/01/images/


Tom

I totally agree that the Challenger disaster was the death knell for the major movements in NASA's space program. I think people want to see resources used elsewhere and think it is too much risk, and too much expense for too little gain.

I have been following the Virgin Galactic program for several years now and get their regular newsletter by email. You could check out their webiste if you haven't already. This is their current launch schedule:

"Virgin Galactic expects to be the first company to provide sub-orbital flights to the general public (and certainly the best!) but does not regard itself as being in a race . We have no absolute or forced deadlines for launch, made possible by the fact that we are fully and independently funded by Sir Richard Branson and the Virgin Group. We will launch as soon as possible, but only when we are happy with the results of the exhaustive WhiteKnightTwo and SpaceShipTwo test flight programme. That test flight programme is scheduled to begin in the latter part of 2007 and all being well commercial operations should start little over a year later."

I fly Virgin Air whenever possible and I love that they have taken this on and are branching out into space. I think it is going to take private business to make it happen.

I don't think so.

I know the united states have been putting more money into finding answers and they are explorations which are top secret.

I hope not anyways,
~Joey

As long as mankind is curious, we will continue to reach for the stars. The US is preparing missions to Mars. China has a vital space program. The international space station continues to be occupied and expand. It will continue, we just got sidetracked a bit.