Los Angeles Times: After 10 years and $100 billion, it is poised to become a top research lab. But the shuttle's planned retirement in 2010 complicates things
International space station close to completion
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I would think that a new fleet of space shuttles that are redesigned with the latest CFD methods, materials, electronic control systems and on-board computers could be assembled in relatively short order.
A crash program to design, test, and build such machines might take at most 2 to 3 years given that much of the basic number crunching and other design work would have already been completed based on the existing space shuttle fleet.
Since these vessels are such work horses, I would think that improving the current designs and building several copies could be a boon for NASA and the aerospace industry.