It is terribly embarrassing. But the solution is not to keep the Shuttle program creaking along, but to work on a new program. At some point, legacy must be removed and a new platform created.
Like I've said repeatedly, what is embarrassing is our dependence on forign nations to get to a space station largely funded and built by us. Russia is not our friend. Russia is a business partner with whom we're not at war.
We should have gotten our asses up and had something new by now, so we could retire the shuttle.
