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The conclusions of the Augustine panel have inspired me thusly:

What if, in the wake of the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger and the later collapse of the USSR, the United States decided to altogether eliminate its manned space flight program and focus entirely on unmanned exploration? Fly-by vehicles, orbital probes, sample-return and the like. No more shuttle or ISS, but no Columbia disaster, either.

My take on it: humanity's knowledge of robotics and the necessities of navigating unmanned spacecraft over very long distances would be substantially ahead of where we are now. There may be less carping about NASA's budget, though doubtless some will still whine that any money spent on space flight is too much. Minus the expense of a manned programme there may be more – and better funded – unmanned missions: might 1995's Galileo atmospheric entry probe have had cameras on board, to give those back home a view of Jupiter's upper atmosphere? Perhaps the 2004 Mars Opportunity rover would have been more than just a tiny, glorified Lego Mindstorms toy – and maybe there would have been more than just one! Orbital probes to Neptune, landers on Pluto....many interesting possibilities open up.
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