Fri, 29 Dec 2006

NASA Goes Back To The Future
A First Look at the Constellation Program

The latest Space Shuttle mission (STS-116) is back on the ground again after delivering supplies, equipment, and crew to the International Space Station. Preparations for the next launch (scheduled for March 2007) are already underway. The ISS itself continues to orbit the globe, changing crewmembers every three to six months, its ongoing assembly still several years from completion.

But the buzz around the aerospace community is not so much about the shuttles, or the ISS, or the couple of dozen robotic missions NASA currently has underway. Instead, the focus is quietly but perceptibly shifting to NASA's "next big thing": the Constellation program, a manned program designed "to take us back to the moon, then to Mars, and beyond", as the NASA spokespeople like to put it.

So just where did the Constellation program come from, and what's it all about anyway?

See more ...

Posted Dec 29, 2006 at 02:49 UTC, 3362 words,  [/rich]  Permalink