Destinations or Capabilities? Lessons from History

摘要

Two U.S. approaches to 21st-century space exploration have emerged in the past year. Reacting to criticisms that his new strategy for human space-flight, unveiled on Feb. 1, 2010, contained no specific destinations for human missions beyond low Earth orbit, President Barack Obama last April 15 set a mission to a near-Earth asteroid by 2025 as the initial target for the next round of exploration. In contrast, the recent NASA planning study carried out by the space agency's Human Exploration Framework Team proposed a "capability-driven framework with a 'go-as-you-pay' approach" as "the most viable approach given the cost, technical and political constraints." If this framework were to be adopted, a mission to an asteroid would be just one possibility in an "incremental expansion of human space exploration capabilities" aimed at reaching a variety of destinations.