The future of human spaceflight

A report on the Augustine Committee, a panel chartered by the White House and chaired by former Lockheed Martin CEO Norman Augustine, on the US human spaceflight plans, is discussed. Much of the report discussed the merits of different destinations in space and the rocket and spacecraft technologies that could be used to reach those destinations. The Committee reports that the ultimate goal of human exploration is to chart a path for human expansion into the solar system. The 2015 deadline for the International Space Station to be destroyed or de-orbited from space will cost at least $2 billion, and NASA has no funding for that. One of the challenges in extending the life of the space station is that once the shuttle is retired, the Russian Soyuz spacecraft will be the only means of transporting crews to and from orbit until Ares I and Orion are ready in 2015. The Augustine report suggests that NASA should get out of the business of shuttling astronauts back and forth and let the commercial sector provide transport to the station.