I took a fairly conservative timeline; as was mentioned in "The Long
Dark," as late as 2150 we were mainly confined to our own solar system,
using sub-light cryogenic exploration ships on one-way missions to go
further. We got to leap-frog several hundred years of technology when we
met the Centauri in 2151, who let us lease time on their jumpgates, and
sold us the tech to make and maintain our own. Had the Centauri or some
other species not tripped over us, I think we'd still be driving around
our own solar system for the most part by 2200, with maybe an excursion
or two to our nearest star.

The space program is currently logjammed, and if it doesn't get
cleared up soon, we're going to be left in the dust, literally as well as
figuratively. We have to get NASA off its image of two guys standing
on a Martian hill planting a flag to communities of people working and
living in space.

The space shuttle was primarily designed as part of a link; space
shuttle builds space station; space station is hub for mars mission and
lunar colony; lunar colony is hub for more mars missions and mars
colony. But we lost that thread, and now it's been relegated to being a
high-tech ferry service.

jms