--- Michael Carnes <MichaelCarnes@earthlink.net> wrote:
I've certainly been clear in my dislike of the shuttle, but this is a whole new kettle of fish. The problems with the shuttle are legion. It's expensive, unnecessarily risky, and most importantly: doomed to low earth orbit. The new plan looks to scrap a lot of that. <snip> Still, there are two things that strike me as a bit odd. In the lunar program, we went from Mercury, though Gemini, to Apollo. Each program was intended
to accomplish specific goals and to build particular skills. <snip>
I was very disappointed to see NASA promoting this "back to past" repeat of the Apollo program as the CEV. It's old dead Apollo technology. What is needed is to knuckle down and complete the promise of the 60's X-plane program and finish a true single-stage-to-orbit space plane. IMHO, the Apollo program was, in a sense, the inappropriate detour from the X-plane series and the skill set of building the first true low-orbit single-stage-to-orbit space plane. The main problem with the shuttle program is that its replacement was defunded by the current administration in 2001. Once a true, safe SSTO space plane is built, building and maintaining orbit based lunar and Mars transit "tugs" will be simple. Yesterday's NASA's implementation announcement is part of the current overall NASA plan outlined in President Bush's 2004 "Vision-for-Space-Exploration" policy paper. http://www.free-definition.com/Vision-for-Space-Exploration.html http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/55583main_vision_space_exploration2.pdf The shuttle is to be replaced by a multi-purpose Crew Exploration Vehicle to be deployed by 2014- http://www.free-definition.com/Crew-Exploration-Vehicle.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crew_Exploration_Vehicle which will be used to service the ISS and for "return to the Moon" missions by 2020. There are number of graphic timelines in this document that lay it all out - http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/55583main_vision_space_exploration2.pdf But again, the "back to the past" Apollo repeat is kinda silly. Fortunately, the Russians are plugging ahead with their Kliper mini-reuseable space plane - that they unvieled at the June 2005 Paris Airshow. http://www.russianspaceweb.com/kliper.html http://www.russianspaceweb.com/kliper_lebourget_2.jpg http://www.russianspaceweb.com/ The U.S. continues to play with the X-43A. http://www.nasa.gov/missions/research/x43-main.html Finally beating the heat-shield and ram-scoop materials problems is the kind of research that will lead to practical Earth-based benefits. - Canopus56(Kurt) __________________________________ Yahoo! Mail - PC Magazine Editors' Choice 2005 http://mail.yahoo.com