The United States stands at the threshold of a new era of human spaceflight. In its first term, the new administration will make the most important decisions in a generation about this endeavor. What are those decisions, and how should they be made in the best interests of the country?
• When should the United States retire the Space Shuttle?
• How should the nation utilize the International Space Station?
• Should the United States return to the moon? If so, how and on what schedule?
• How should future plans balance the moon, Mars, and other possible destinations?Ultimately, these decisions derive from the larger question: Why fly people into space?
To answer these questions we rethink the rationales for government-funded human spaceflight and then address current policy questions in light of those rationales.
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16 pages; PDF.
Source: Space, Policy, and Society Research Group / MIT
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