Just because the Space Shuttle program ended last summer doesn't mean the Shuttle dream is dead. One day, the U.S. is going to return to space in manned spacecraft and when that day comes, let's just hope there won't be as many physical switches and buttons as there were on the old Shuttles.

It was 40 years ago today that President Richard Nixon, pictured sitting opposite then NASA Administrator James C. Fletcher on January 5, 1972, announced that the country "should proceed at once with the development of an entirely new type of space transportation system designed to help transform the space frontier of the 1970s into familiar territory." After carrying over 750 passengers into space over 135 missions, the Space Transportation System may be no more, but in a sense we're in the same situation folks were back in '72: waiting for the Deep Space Transportation System.

The shuttle program is over, and the orbiters are being prepped for public display. Atlantis, the last shuttle to fly, will be on static display at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, but most of its interior will be removed to make it lighter.

All three space shuttles, Atlantis, Discovery, and Endeavour, are currently at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida undergoing processing to prepare them for public display. Since there are only two active processing facilities, NASA had to do a shuttle swap, resulting in a unique photo opportunity between Endeavour and Discovery.