system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: Were the Space Shuttles really so bad that its easier to start from scratch and de-evolve back to capsule designs again rather than just fix them?

I don't understand how its cheaper to start from scratch with entirely new designs, and having to go through all the testing phases again rather than just fix the space shuttle design with the help of modern tech. Someone please enlighten me :) 
-Cheers 

(((Furthermore it looks like the dream chaser is what i'm talking about and no one is taking it seriously....)))
gpt
The problem with the Shuttle wasn't so much that it was an old design but that the *basic idea* of the Shuttle is painfully inefficient.

It takes a lot of energy to move mass high enough & fast enough to even start orbiting the Earth.  If you want to travel away from the earth, there's even more energy involved.  The Space Shuttle orbiter weighted 150,000 pounds empty - by comparison, the new Orion capsules are only about 20,000 pounds.  That's 130,000 pound of "it's cool to fly like a plane when you're landing" which complicates *everything* about space travel.