Reply #33: What can I say? I'm a romantic when it comes to space.

[Starry Messenger]

The ISS is staying, AFAIK. There's been some dispute of how Americans are getting up there going forward without the Shuttle program. One plan was to go up with Buran, but there's some old commie hunters who weren't happy with that. The other option is renting space on privately run space vehicles. Here's a recent article giving a run-down on the dramatis personae: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2010/09/20/gallery-boeing-joins-start-up-companies-in-the-private-space-race/