This week marks the end of the Space Shuttle program.  It may well mark the end of America’s manned exploration of space.  Though I know the vast majority of American’s won’t even mark the passing, I will.  To my mind, this was the greatest endeavor and greatest achievement in human history– greater than the pyramids, the Great Wall, the transcontinental railroad.  Yes, we may send astronauts into space, hitchhiking or taking the equivalent of an interplanetary taxi-cab, but the great enterprise is gone.