Stick a Fork in Space Station Alpha

Some are suggesting the US should give up on Space Station Alpha.

I call it Alpha, the name the Russians gave it, and not ISS, because I think the Russians got it right when it called the thing an actual name instead of an acronym. It's one of the strangest things I've noticed that's different between people like Elon Munsk and people at NASA. Who spends billions developing the next generation of launch vehicle for the US and then decides to call it the bland "Space Shuttle?" How uninspiring. What happened to the days of space vehicles called "Mercury" or "Apollo." "SkyLab" was even a better name the "International Space Station." Munsk seems to get the importance of a name calling his vehicle "Falcon." John Carmack's little venture is called "Armadillo" - fitting because the Armadillo was the original symbol of the North American frontier.

Whatever the name the ISS is the biggest waste of time and money that NASA has ever embarked on.

Does anyone actually remember what the purpose of having a space station really was back in the 80's? I can still remember the artist's conceptions. Space Station "Freedom" was going to be a real space station where real everyday people could go and be tourists and roam the decks and get into loads of trouble. The second part of the hype of the purpose of a space station can be summed up in two words: space garage.

The Space Station was supposed to be a working orbital platform where large space structures could be erected. It was supposed to be the launching point for future missions to the Moon and to Mars. Ships, like sea cruisers, would be assembled at the station instead of on the ground.

It was supposed to be a space garage. They made a Space Elephant.

It's remote that the ISS will ever be abandoned by the US. Most likely the US will either cave in to Russia's demands or take a few year hiatus from the ISS until the CEV gets done.

That being said if it were up to me, NASA would scrap the Shuttle, and pull out of the ISS. I would contract out all cargo launches to the private sector, and work on, as the Russians have, a new manned launch vehicle for human transportation only, and not for anything else.