wrote:
I'm having a hard time believing that the era of the Space Shuttle is coming to
an end. The U.S. has had manned space flight for what, 49 years now? In fact, I
really DON'T believe we're not going to have a manned presence in space. What
are the chances that there is a secret, military program that still utilizes
shuttles or shuttle-like vehicles?

Zero.

Wasn't there a program that never got off the
ground many years ago, with a selected crew of astronauts who never flew?

The key words are "never got off the ground" and "never flew".

Thought I saw that on a TV show. Could something else be flying? Maybe disguised
as satellite launches? Or would it be too difficult to hide a manned launch.

The latter.