Make Way for a New Generation in Space

摘要

Space is an aging industry that benefits from the wealth of information brought about by the decades of experience of its current leaders. It is also an industry that generally relies on verified "space proven" methods over newer untested technologies that harbor unknown risks. While the already proven methods and technologies are crucial in bringing reliability to an inherently risky industry, it is also important not to ignore new and emerging ideas and approaches. In 1957, the successful launch of Sputnik started the "space generation." Those of us born after that time have grown up surrounded by space technology, and this has become an ingrained part in our daily lives. The Apollo program arrived in the 1960s, bringing the passion for space a step further. Space became a "cooler" thing; it was away to measure the power, the determination and the progress of a nation. There is indeed an "Apollo generation" inspired by this. After the Apollo program, the Space Race brought us to Mir and the international space station (ISS), and it got stuck there. Soyuz and the space shutde were the immediate results of diis. The shutde inspired yet another generation —bringing people's dreams to outer space, to ISS. And then the shutde was retired, with no replacement.