We`ve had the the Great Western, the [ dunno ] and the Great Northern
postulated as Brunel`s masterpiece. Keep boxing the compass chaps, you`ll
get round to it eventually.

The Great Western was a highly successful transatlantic mail ship,
with hybrid sail and steam propulsion. The Great Eastern, which broke
the 'Little Giant' financially and otherwise, was a revolutionary leap
forward in ship design. A thirty thousand ton all steel vessel, with
primary steam propulsion, it was at the time easily the biggest ocean
going vessel ever built. Brunel took advantage of the fact that cargo
and / or fuel capacity rose with the cube of scale, while drag rose
with the square, so a really big ship could steam thousands of miles
without coaling.

Unfortunately, there was no real market for such a beast at the time,
and it was eventually sold off at scrap values. As another poster
said, it then went on to a successful career as a telegraph cable
laying ship. It was in fact the only ship of its day capable of laying
a transatlantic cable in one go, with the endurance and capacity to
carry the huge reel all the way, and the manoeuverabilty to dredge for
defective sections. See Arthur C Clarke`s book "How the World was One"
[ I think that`s right ]

If that`s how the Shuttle goes down in history, as a technical triumph
and a financial disaster for the builder, it would not be entirely
ignoble, but I doubt if history will be so charitable.  Its true the
Shuttle can do things no other launch system can do, but are they
worth doing? With low cost access to space, you could have an
affordable space station for doing shuttle-like extended manned
missions. As it is, the shuttle is not so much a space-truck as a
space-RV, ( only not so cheap to run :-( )