Space Shuttle & Beyond

As an avid supporter of human spaceflight, I’m quite sad that the final Space Shuttle mission will soon be complete. I realize that we need to move past the Shuttle and onto other programs, just as we did with the Apollo program as well as Gemini and Mercury before it, but it’s been around for the entirety of my life and is the representation of NASA and human spaceflight in general for me.

As STS-135 comes to a close, it makes me wonder what the future holds. As we all know budget problems are crippling many of the world’s economies, and space exploration has been hit hard due to the fact that it is so very expensive (although in my opinion quite worth the money).

I started this thread to see what others think of human spaceflight (& space exploration) including what you think the future holds. In your country (wherever you live), what is being worked on that may contribute to mankind’s exploration of the cosmos?

What’s going on Europe (the ESA) or Japan? I figure at least Russia is somewhat of a constant as they have the Soyuz spacecraft that continues to provide support to the ISS. Perhaps elsewhere?

I know here in America there are commercial companies working on spacecraft to use for resupply and ultimately delivery of personnel to the ISS and that a heavy-lift vehicle for operations outside of LEO (Low-Earth Orbit) is being developed although to be honest I’m not sure how far along it has gotten as many of the shuttle’s replacements have been delayed and/or cancelled over the years.

Any other space junkies around here?

On a similar note, has anyone read the Key Publishing special about Space? I was considering a buy, but figured I’d ask for opinions of anyone who had read it.