Crew Escape: Past, Present Future A Historical Survey of all Crewed U.S. Launch Vehicles

摘要

The lessons that can be learned from Project Mercury through Shuttle are many. In order to meet the requirements necessary to take humans into space safely new technologies must be developed, tested and proven. A co-operative effort must be established between partners in the development of these systems. Competition is good but not at the expense of falling short of the goals set at the beginning of the project. Concepts must be explored and trade studies must be performed to clearly determine the purpose, the needs, the objectives and the alternatives. Design of crew escape systems must occur in the reusable launch vehicle conceptual design phase. Crew escape should not be something that is added on after the fact. Crew escape systems are required for 2nd Generation Vehicles and technology development should start prior to vehicle detailed design. Crew escape system reliability is a major driving factor in overall vehicle reliability to meet the "1 in 10,000 Loss of Crew" requirement. Crew escape system reliability must be increased. If International Space Station servicing and space tourism, potentially the most important space development of this millennium, is to occur then crew escape systems must be a priority. Crew escape system technologies for the next generation launch vehicle need to be researched and demonstrations planned. Crew escape system hardware needs to be designed, built and tested in concert with RLV development. In order for the U.S. to launch a new crewed launch vehicle even close to within the next decade a crew escape program needs to start now.