Into the sunset, Economist “Disasters apart, the shuttle generally succeeded in at least one aspect of its mission: its regular launches (not to mention stunts such as flying a 77-year-old astronaut, and assorted senators and congressmen) made space travel seem routine, almost mundane–which helped to dampen public interest.” The end of the Space Age, Economist “But the shuttle is now over. The ISS is due to be de-orbited, in the […]

“Embrace the end of human spaceflight!”, Paul Spudis, Air & Space “The nearly simultaneous 50th anniversary of the beginning of human spaceflight and the forthcoming end of the Space Shuttle program has philosophical members of the chattering classes making the rounds to thumb their noses or hawk their wares, waxing poetic over historical ironies, wasted opportunities and dollars, and damn near exhausting Roget’s Thesaurus searching for words to express their […]

“Andrew Chaikin explains why humans need to follow in the footsteps of their robotic emissaries and travel to Mars.”

Renewal of a Life and Physical Sciences Research Program at NASA Could Facilitate Longer, Farther Human Space Missions “By elevating its life and physical sciences research program, NASA could achieve the biological understanding and technical breakthroughs needed to allow humans to be sent deeper into space, including to Mars, says a new National Research Council report. In addition, access to the space environment — for example, on the International Space […]

GOP Lawmakers Appeal for Manned Exploration Funds Space News “To be clear, we believe that NASA’s budget can be reduced,” the lawmakers wrote, urging Ryan to take aim at climate-monitoring programs poised for a funding boost over the next five years under the $18.72 billion budget blueprint U.S. President Barack Obama unveiled Feb. 14. “Within the NASA budget specifically, we believe there is an opportunity to cut funding within the […]

NASA chief Bolden makes call on where shuttles will stay, Florida Today “[Bolden] said he planned to formally announce “within the next few weeks, if not days” that KSC will be the home of the NASA office that oversees the development and operation of commercial space taxis. NASA’s primary launch operations site never has hosted a human spaceflight project office. That work historically has been done at Johnson Space Center […]

NASA’s human spaceflight program is ‘adrift’ as budget cuts may doom deal, Orlando Sentinel “With this fiscal environment in mind, [general manager of Lockheed Martin’s human space flight division] John Karas argues that Orion is the only NASA project far enough along to fly — and may be the only way to keep the agency’s space-faring ambitions alive. “The reason we decided not to wait for a rocket any more […]

US may outsource lightweight satellite launches to India, India Strategic “Lockheed Martin’s India Chief Executive Roger Rose told India Strategic that as the US was moving towards longer distance and more sophisticated probes, it made commercial sense to outsource launching of some satellites. There was a dearth of low-cost launching facilities in the world but ISRO and Antrix had a commendable track record in this regard. Lockheed Martin was also […]

Commercial Spaceflight Federation Responds to Recent Misperceptions Related to U.S. Human Spaceflight “As a strong supporter of a robust NASA human spaceflight program, the Commercial Spaceflight Federation is releasing the following statement to address topics related to human spaceflight, including commercial human spaceflight. Please see items below on the topics of capability, safety, and cost savings.”

Human spaceflight: diversify the portfolio, Alan Stern, Space Review “The American people expect big things from our nation’s human space flight enterprise. Tragically, however, for the past 20+ years, our country’s civil human spaceflight effort hasn’t been able to deliver big things, such as historic exploration milestones at far away destinations, or advancing the cause of easy human access to near-space locales. What we need now is more than just […]