Man Hours In Space

Space stations have exploded the number of yearly man hours in space-- that is the point in building them-- but the number of manned space launches peaked in 1985, the year before the Challenger accident.  After that, NASA flew fewer shuttle missions per year, and the Russians didn't take up the slack.

With the advent of commercial human spaceflight on the horizon, that record should soon be shattered, but it tells us how little real progress humanity has made conquering space in the past quarter century.