article_snippet.sent: The utilitarian Space Shuttle fell to budget cuts, depletion and age, leaving astronauts to hitch rides on Russian rockets.
article_snippet.sent: It's just the way it is.'
article_snippet.sent: Attempts to reuse booster rockets have been rocky; it's failed three times to land three times on a platform off the Florida coast.
article_snippet.sent: A lot of time these companies, maybe for good reason, these companies don't really want to use or benefit from the lessons learned from what NASA did for 40 years, 50 years,' Kanipe said. '
article_snippet.sent: I pleaded with these companies: "Let us help, use us experience.
article_snippet.sent: But these companies have other ideas.'
article_snippet.sent: There's just a million ways it can go wrong,' Kanipe said. '