Pathways to Exploration: Rationales and Approaches for a U.S. Program of Human Space Exploration

摘要

The task for the Committee on Human Spaceflight originated in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Authorization Act of 2010, which required that the National Academies perform a humanspaceflight study that would review the goals, core capabilities, and direction of human space flight. The explicit examination of rationales, along with the identification of enduring questions set the task apart from numerous similar studies performed over the preceding several decades, as did the requirement that the committee bring broad public and stakeholder input into its considerations. The complex mix of historical achievement and uncertain future made the task faced by the committee extraordinarily challenging and multidimensional. Nevertheless, the committee has come to agree on a set of major conclusions and recommendations, which are summarized here.