AN ANALYSIS OF NASA'S PLANS FOR CONTINUING HUMAN SPACEFLIGHT AFTER RETIRING THE SPACE SHUTTLE

摘要

In 2004, President Bush announced his "Vision for U.S. Space Exploration," which called for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to complete construction of the International Space Station and retire the space shuttle fleet by 2010. The President also directed NASA to develop new vehicles for human space-flight that would allow missions to the moon, Mars, and beyond. NASA was directed to complete that development as quickly as possible to minimize the gap in time, once the space shuttle fleet was retired, during which NASA would be unable to carry out human space missions. The development of new vehicles for such missions-including the Ares 1 crew launch vehicle and the Orion crew exploration vehicle-is funded through NASA's Constellation Program. This Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report describes the status of the program and the prospects for accomplishing its goals over the planned timetable. NASA's current plans call for the Ares 1 and Orion vehicles to reach the milestone of initial operating capability (IOC) in March 2015. (At that point, the Ares 1 and Orion vehicles should be capable of carrying a crew of astronauts to the International Space Station.) NASA is also developing additional vehicles and systems-including the Ares 5 cargo launch vehicle-that are required to return humans to the moon by 2020.