Just recently I found an old article [1] from 1992 written by Thomas O. Paine, the former administrator of NASA. In this article, which was mainly about the possible future of space travel, he mentioned, that in his opinion, "between 2000 and 2010 the ordinary Space Shuttle fleet will be grounded due to a tragic accident". This prophesy was hanging above NASA like Damocles' sword. And then it fell. Now according to the politicians and the space agencies plan the fleet will indeed by grounded, by 2010. The necessary changes in the American space politics were only possible due to the tragic loss of Columbia Space Shuttle.

References

1. To Settle the Red Planet: A Decade-by-Decade Look at Martian History, 1990-2090