What I think is the biggest shame is that launches don't receive as much media attention as they once did.

Isn't that because viewers just don't find it as newsworthy any more? Or is that what you're complaining about? A shuttle launch is an amazing thing, but an amazing thing happening for the 107th time isn't news. (If it was, CNN would still be covering butterflies -- a caterpillar turns into a chrysalis-ful of caterpillar soup, then turns into a butterfly. What's with that?)

IMO it's one of the greatest achievements of the shuttle programme if people nowadays are starting to think that space travel is routine. One day space travel must become routine. Today's sad news just shows that we actually aren't quite there yet.

Peter