NASA admits shuttle, ISS were mistakes

[Chip Fetrow]

They missed the point that much of the Shuttle's design was done for the military, particularally the Air Force, who dropped out of the program once they were building the first Shuttles.  It would have been much smaller, and capible of going into higher orbits had the Air Force not been involved.

http://m.techrepublic.com/blog/geekend/nasa-admits-shuttle-iss-were-mistakes/93

--chip
From the Kennedy Space Center Press Site