Written by
CHRISTOPHER C. KRAFT and SCOTT R. SPENCER
As the end of the space shuttle program nears, where and how America travels into space appear unclear.
There are no defined missions, destinations or deadlines. With the upcoming 50th anniversary of the first U.S. manned spaceflight, America's leadership in space exploration is at risk. Our space program is beset by cancellations, budget cuts and conflicting directives for government and commercial spaceflight development.
In addition to the need to retain the unique technical expertise of tens of thousands of workers, the program's future is vital to our nation's economic future.
No other government program matches the economic impact of space program spin-offs, including applications in medicine, computer technology, communications, public safety, food, power generation and transportation.
MRI testing, flat-screen TVs, cordless power tools and solar power are examples of what space technology has provided us.
A robust manned-space program, with well-defined missions, destinations and deadlines is essential for U.S. advancement in science, technology, engineering and medicine.
Such advancements inspire continued academic achievement and employment opportunities for America's youth.
Keeping the space shuttle program is also essential to preserving 30,000 jobs and maintaining American technical proficiency with regular space missions. The space shuttles also provide the United States with vital space transportation redundancy.
After the final space shuttle flight, scheduled this year, the United States would need to depend on Russia for transportation to and from space. While this pay-per-ride arrangement has been used successfully to provide some trips to the International Space Station, this would mark the first time in history that our nation would be left with no alternative but to accept the technical and political risks of depending entirely on a foreign nation for access to space.
It would be prudent to keep the space shuttles flying with new missions until replacement spacecraft and commercial space transportation achieve reliable operations.
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The space shuttle has a unique capability to carry heavy payloads into space, and return hardware from orbit; it is the only means available of flying critical replacement components to support the $100 billion International Space Station.
No other spacecrafts have flown more flights in the last 30 years and carried more passengers into space. It is the only reusable spacecraft in the world capable of carrying more than a half dozen passengers and school bus-sized cargo into space. The three space shuttles have been flown on average only a third of their useful life.
After the tragic loss of the Challenger and Columbia crews and shuttles, modifications to the remaining shuttle fleet and improvements to inspections and flight procedures made the space shuttle the most reliable and capable vehicle in the U.S. rocket stable.
Regular and extended moon missions will be necessary to confirm the readiness of spacecraft, astronauts and flight procedures for future Mars missions. In fact, several dress-rehearsal missions, simulating a multi-year Mars mission, would be vital before risking sending a manned spacecraft to Mars.
We are requesting that President Obama, Congress, NASA and our fellow Americans continue America's leadership in space with a commitment for a program to go to the moon and Mars.
Our proposal is for development of a modular, reusable Planetary Transport Vehicle System for manned landings on the moon, Mars and asteroids. The modular components of the PTV spacecraft would be designed to fit in the cargo bay of the space shuttle, to be flown to a spaceport at the International Space Station or a more efficient low-Earth orbit location for assembly.
Designed as an exo-atmospheric spacecraft, reusable PTV landers would operate successive missions entirely in space, traveling to the moon and Mars from the Earth-orbit spaceport, then returning to the spaceport to be serviced for the next mission. Shuttles and commercial spacecraft would ferry crews back and forth to the PTV spaceport.
Eliminating the need to launch every moon or Mars lander from the surface of the Earth generates considerable fuel savings. The reusable PTV also eliminates the expense of throwaway spacecraft and rocket boosters.
The PTV spacecraft fleet will also create a significant market for commercial spacecraft to ferry crews, supplies and fuel to the PTV spaceport in Earth orbit.
Given the modular simplicity of the PTV spacecraft landers, our nation could mark the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing with the resumption of lunar flights in 2019.
This is the course that our country should follow into space for the next decade to the moon, Mars and beyond.
Mr. Kraft is the former director of NASA's Manned Spaceflight Center in Houston, Texas. Mr. Spencer is a transportation management consultant in Wilmington.
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