The past decade has been one of continued transition for NASA, shifting from a mission-driven to capability-driven agency. NASA was established as a mission-driven organization to "contribute materially" to specific national objectives. High-profile missions dominated NASA's first 50 years- Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Voyager, Viking, Mariner, and the Hubble Space Telescope to name a few. This approach was very effective and continues to be valuable for NASA; however, the aerospace ecosystem has evolved tremendously since NASA was established. Objectives have increased in complexity, budgets are constrained, and NASA has been joined by a host of commercial and international partners with significant capabilities. In this environment, isolated missions designed to meet individual goals are no longer sustainable. Instead, NASA has shifted focus to developing a set of broadly applicable capabilities that complement partner capabilities and enable a wide range of interrelated human exploration activities. This paper will briefly outline the history of NASA's pioneering strategy and trace the evolution from missions to capabilities. The authors will discuses Pioneering Space in further detail within the context of overarching trends. We will also look at planned near-term activities and how these support capability development that enables future space pioneers. Finally, the paper will conclude with thoughts on continued evolution within NASA and the aerospace community and how current work and decisions today will provide a solid foundation for an uncertain, but exciting future for human spaceflight.
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