Not only does shuttle cost too much it has severe limitations. Let's just take a look at Triana. The bloody shuttle can only fly to a few hundred miles above the earth surface and Triana needs to get all the way to the one of the lagrange's points?? This certainly sounds like a monumental waste. Why did NASA even consider using the space shuttle mission as a REALLY expensive booster rocket for delivery of a really expensive webcam? Indeed, if Energia or Ariane are unacceptable, why not build themselves? For Pete's sakem NASA built SaturnV rockets... On a tangent, NASA really should consider using unmanned rockets for some of their projects. Heck, if they just did away with one shuttle launch they could field several 'traditional' rocket launches and by using them be able to reach much higher orbits above the earth... ah well, maybe one day. Darn it, if idiot Gore would not have had his stupid dream maybe I'd be getting a few extra dollars on my 'tax relief' refund check :-)