Astronaut Steve Robinson may have salvaged the shuttle Discovery this week with his daring space walk to fix the craft's heat shield.
But the shuttle program is doomed. Its replacement could be flying in five years.
In 1980 NASA's bold schedule called for a shuttle launch every eight days. Each of four orbiters would make 100 flights, carrying commercial, scientific and secret military satellites.
Following the 1986 Challenger disaster the military scrapped its shuttle ambitions and commercial satellites were switched to less risky unmanned rockets.
So, in 24 years the shuttle has logged just 114 launches, with two ending in tragedy.
Asked this week how many more would fly before the program is shelved in 2010, a date set by President George Bush after the 2003 Columbia disaster, NASA's new administrator, Michael Griffin, replied "we would like 19 or 20". That would allow the completion of the International Space Station and one more upgrade of the Hubble space telescope. "By the time we retire the shuttle," said Mr Griffin, "it will have been in service for nearly 30 years".
"That's a long time for something which is fundamentally an experimental vehicle. The shuttle has been a step along the road to allowing humans routine access to space. But it did not reach that goal; we need to keep at it."
The shuttle's replacement, dubbed the Crew Exploration Vehicle, will ferry crews to the space station, and meet Mr Bush's goal of returning astronauts to the moon by 2020.
In May two groups, one led by Lockheed Martin and the other by Boeing and Northrop Grumman, submitted designs for the new craft.
Boeing's proposal remains under wraps, but Lockheed Martin's plan calls for a winged cabin, carrying up to six astronauts, that could set down on land or water.
NASA is expected to choose the winning design next year.
Meanwhile, Discovery's crew still has to get home on Monday night. Thanks to a battery of cameras, and Dr Robinson's space walk, they have more information about the dents in their craft than any previous shuttle crew.
Foam falling from the fuel tank caused Columbia's destruction in 2003. Asked in a TV interview about how "fearful" he was when he learnt foam insulation had fallen from Discovery's fuel tank during their July 27 launch, Australian-born astronaut Andy Thomas said: "It wasn't a question of fearful … The biggest emotion was one of disappointment…" The crew was, said Dr Thomas, "very, very, troubled … such a thing could happen".
Asked what Discovery's crew might be thinking, the only other Australian who has been in space, Dr Paul Scully-Power, said: "I don't think anyone is ever relaxed about re-entry. It is certainly dangerous, getting into orbit and back."