Second-decade space science missions in the Earth's neighborhood - Post-space station opportunities for human spaceflight

2001 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harley Thronson Jr.
Author(s):  
Valerie Neal

Chapter 5, “Space Station: Campaigning for a Permanent Human Presence in Space,” transitions from the space shuttle as the focus of U.S. human spaceflight to NASA’s push for a permanent space station from the 1980s into the new century. The space station became the new icon for justifying humans living and working off the planet. The focus here is the constant effort to shape and reshape both the rationale for the station and its actual configuration in the face of mounting opposition. Two phrases served to reshape the meaning of spaceflight once a space station claimed the agenda: “the next logical step” and “a permanent presence in space.”


2021 ◽  
Vol 33 ◽  
pp. 251-276
Author(s):  
Peter Velinov

On April 12, 1961, Yuri Gagarin proclaimed the arrival of a new space age. The rapid advances in the different space sciences and technologies began after the first human spaceflight. Then fundamentally new sciences and technologies appeared. At present, space science covers a broad range of disciplines. The following outline is provided as an overview and topical guide to space sciences: Astronomy and Space Astronomy, Cosmology, Astrophysics, Space Physics, Solar-Terrestrial Physics, Aeronomy, Solar physics, Heliospheric Physics, Cosmic Ray Physics, Space Weather and Space Climate (Earth-Space Climatology), Space Dosimetry, Space Chemistry or Cosmochemistry, Remote Sensing of the Earth and Planets, Planetary Science, Planetary Geology, Astrogeology or Exogeology, Exoplanetology or Exoplanetary Science (Science for Extrasolar Planetary Systems), Intelligent Life in the Universe, Astronautics (or Cosmonautics), Orbital mechanics or Astrodynamics, Space life sciences: Bioastronautics, Space Medicine, Space Neuroscience, Space Biology, Radiation Biology, Biotechnology, Space Botany or Astrobotany, Microgravity Environment Research; Archaeoastronomy, Space Anthropology, Xeno-anthropology (Exo-anthropology), Space Law, Space Technology, Space Navigation, Space Communications, Space Architecture, Space Logistics, Space Robotics, Space Robotic Colonies, Space Colonization (also called Space Settlement or Extraterrestrial Colonization), Planetary Habitability, Space Manufacturing, Space Materials Science, Satellite Industry, Space Business, Space Tourism, Space Hardware, Space Industry, and Space Ecology. With the help of these advanced space sciences humankind began confidently the exploration of space. But these studies led also to numerous new technologies and applications to improve people's lives. Finally, we mention again Yuri Gagarin and his cosmic heritage. He left behind an inspirational legacy, which even today still continues to motivate millions of people worldwide.


Author(s):  
Igor R. Ashurbeyli ◽  

Private sector involvement in the International Space Station (ISS) is becoming increasingly important as commercial organisations provide services and hardware to enhance the orbital operations of the Space Station which, in November 2020, marked two decades of continuous occupation. During the first Asgardia Space Science & Investment Conference, held in Germany in October 2019, a project to add a new commercially procured docking module to the ISS was announced as a key step to expanding the permanent human presence in low Earth orbit. Dr Igor Ashurbeyli, General Designer, provides a technical overview of the project and the industrial partnership arranged to deliver it.


Subject China's human spaceflight programme. Significance China’s human spaceflight programme has advanced steadily, with seemingly unwavering political support. It is now ready to begin a new phase: construction of a permanent crewed space station. Impacts Institutions in other countries will benefit from opportunities to use China’s space station. Beijing’s consistent political commitment to human spaceflight may make other governments see it as a more reliable partner than Washington. China’s space station may compete with US private space stations for business from non-US clients. China has no public timeline for a human moon landing, but is putting the necessary elements in place. A Chinese crewed moon programme would likely be designed to be sustainable, unlike the one-off Apollo mission.


Author(s):  
Valerie Neal

The last chapter, “Memory: Preserving Meaning,” considers what the end of the shuttle era meant. With the orbiters retired to museums, the International Space Station assembled, the astronaut corps dwindled, the future-oriented Constellation program canceled, and NASA’s Orion spacecraft and industry’s commercial space transportation still under development in 2016, the future of U.S. human spaceflight was uncertain. Prospects for new human spaceflight rationales are unsettled, but museums that preserve the relics of the shuttle era are busy shaping public memory and the meaning of the past. Might there be some constructive dialogue between future planners and past explainers?


Author(s):  
Valerie Neal

The sixth chapter, “Plans: Envisioning the Future in Space,” surveys the episodic effort to redefine the purpose and chart the course of future human spaceflight beyond the space station. It examines the effort by presidents, NASA planners, and blue-ribbon commissions to present energizing ideas and images--to generate a new imaginary--for expanding (or curbing) the human presence in space. These exercises in charting a way into the future typically failed, in part because they were ineffectively framed for consensus or political support. The current spaceflight imaginary puts humans on the moon again, or on Mars, or visiting an asteroid at some unspecified time.


Author(s):  
Walter D. Cardona Maya ◽  
Stefan S. Du Plessis

Garrett-Bakelman FE et al, demonstrated a spectrum of molecular and physiological changes attributed to spaceflight in their recently published “NASA Twins Study”.1 During his 340 days in space onboard the International Space Station (ISS), one of a pair of monozygotic twins was not only challenged by noise, isolation, hypoxia, and alterations in the circadian rhythm, but more importantly the exposure to ionizing radiation (IR) and microgravity. Terrestrials are subjected constantly to surface gravity and most if not all physiological processes have adapted accordingly. It is therefore easy to envisage that weightlessness can have consequences for space travellers.2


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document