Space/Science — HabitableZone

Space/Science » in reply to Time to make some difficult decisions

NASA Has Had No Clear Goal Or Timetable For Human Spaceflight Since Apollo
Mark Eby — (archived)

The shuttle was the closest and its mishmash of conflicting goals is well documented in CAIB. The ISS looks more and more like nothing more than orbital pork. For NASA to work as It did in Apollo it neads clear long term goals and deadlines to meet. Without them it really is in part a jobs program. NASA should have three clear goals in my view.

Near term

1) Short term replace shuttle with safe vehicle ASAP as CAIB recommends so we can get as much as possible out the ISS turkey without sacrificing any more lives and have a means to help achieve 3.

Long term (10-20 years) subject to fiscally realistic timetables.

2) Radically reduce cost of access to space. This should focus first on unmanned vehicles so that business has a realistic shot at taking over the developemnt of space then at human rated vehicles if business is still not realistically capable of that.

3) Commit to sending humans to Mars. Mars is a worthwhile goal independent of 2 and we can learn much of value to the future independent of 2. The combination of 2 and 3 will open Mars, the Moon, and the solar system to private development.

Regards,
Mark

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