In reality it all comes down to $$$$$
The amount of money that would be spent on a completely new shuttle design would be astronomical, especially seeing how our country is already ridiculously in debt.
This actually brings up an interesting issue becauses its the whole private industries vs NASA argument on allowing independant contractors to build their own shuttles. If you don't know what I'm talking about, google it and I'm sure something will come up. Basically the way I see it is that for the exploration of space to continue at a somewhat reasonable rate, we need to open the field to the private industries. However, this is a rather dangerous move when you consider all possible factors, hence why NASA has always been opposed to it. Its a catch 22 in a way.
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In reality it all comes down to $$$$$ The amount of money that would be spent on a completely new shuttle design would be astronomical, especially seeing how our country is already ridiculously in debt. This actually brings up an interesting issue becauses its the whole private industries vs NASA argument on allowing independant contractors to build their own shuttles. If you don't know what I'm talking about, google it and I'm sure something will come up. Basically the way I see it is that for the exploration of space to continue at a somewhat reasonable rate, we need to open the field to the private industries. However, this is a rather dangerous move when you consider all possible factors, hence why NASA has always been opposed to it. Its a catch 22 in a way.