I think the Shuttle design get&#x27;s a bad rap. The cost savings from scrubbing a mission where minimal and if it had flown more missions then it&#x27;s cost per mission would have dropped.  Cost per mission would have also dropped if they had canceled it sooner and not waited 3 years after challenger.  IMO, the real issue was Congress turned the thing into a jobs program.<p>NASA on the other hand had lot&#x27;s of issues.<p>Challenger: &quot;[W]e&#x27;re only qualified to 40 degrees ...&#x27;what business does anyone even have thinking about 18 degrees, we&#x27;re in no man&#x27;s land.&#x27;&quot;[2]<p>Columbia had 27 successful missions and went though several redesigns one of which resulted in failure.