That combination of success and a failed, unrealistic promise was discussed by a panel of experts examining the shuttle's legacy as it enters a final year of missions near the 30th anniversary of the first launch, Florida Today reported.

"None of us gets tired of watching it launch, and it's going to be heartbreaking to watch that last one, but it's also going to be a source of great pride," former astronaut Frank Culbertson said. "It's done so much over its lifetime."

NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden, speaking at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics' 49th Aerospace Sciences meeting in Orlando, said the agency plans to fly three shuttle missions in 2011 before the three-orbiter fleet is retired.

A four-time shuttle pilot and commander, Bolden spoke of bittersweet feelings within NASA about the missions being the "final voyage of one of our flagship programs, and final chapter in one of the most storied eras in the history of human spaceflight."

Early plans for the shuttles called for as many as 50 flights a year, routinely launching satellites and scores of people into orbit, making spaceflight economical.

The reality of only four or five flights a year on average, each costing hundreds of millions of dollars, has made the shuttle something of a disappointment, some admit.

"It never did reach the low-cost goals that we had set for it, and it had a hard time shaking that reputation," said Glynn Lunney, a former Gemini and Apollo flight director and shuttle program manager.

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