Priorities?

Why is the NASA shuttle program "in trouble?" I understand that the shuttles themselves are old and probably need a lot of new parts. So replace them!? Why does the whole thing go out the window just because it's getting old? Seems to me that the military gets brand new tanks and planes and battleships just about every year, or if not, whenever they deem their stuff too old. And that's not the "too old to operate safely without a significant risk of mechanical or electronic failure, injury or death" kind of too old. The military gets new stuff when its just not as high tech and awesome as it was last year. They get new stuff when its deemed that an entire Arab nation's military could be obliterated only 15 times over in less than a week, instead of 20 times over. What do I know, military insiders would probably tell you the military is vastly underfunded. (Even the ones who aren't war mongers and actually have a level headed, rational perception of what we need to defend our country.) And I must concede that there IS a good arguement for the notion that having a military that can kick most countries asses many times over is more important than exploring space during this period of human history. But not much more important.

I'm mostly nitpicking here, but the one thing that seems completely and utterly retarded is something I have heard countless times since the Columbia explosion in 2003. Ever since that happened, and now increasingly more so again as we gear up for a new launch, is how doomed the program will be if there's another accident, and that the shuttles need to be scrapped soon anyway, because they're too old. 14 people have dies in shuttle accidents since 1986. 14! That's like, one, two, three, fourteen! Way way too many casualties. Exploring space is just too costly an endeavour for this country. I mean, an unwinnable war of choice based on fabricated intelligence and outrageous lies by the President to the American people, THAT'S at least worth 2000+ sons and daughters. But 14 pilots and technicians over 20 years for the boundless advancement of science and technology? Its just too costly for this country to undertake. We should stop scientific study all together, and plunge headlong into multiple wars of occupations, isurgencies and quagmires.