>"I find the statement that there's a public desire for a winged spaceship silly."

I have to disagree. For all the technological achievements of SpaceX, we still don't have the capabilities lost with the Shuttle. No other spacecraft before or since has had the ability to launch 8 astronauts and return multi-ton cargos from LEO. There was also just something so cool about having a freaking spaceship that capsule designs will never have, and that shouldn't be discounted. I couldn't help but feel somewhat depressed watching the Dragon launch like we have regressed as a society, no longer daring to push the limits and strive for absurdley ambitious things like the Shuttle did.