Human Space Exploration Update
By : Jimmy Spence , BAHEP
* Congress Mulls Options for Space Station Beyond 2024 The future of the International Space Station beyond 2024 was the focus of a congressional hearing . According to Representative Babin , the head of a congressional subcommittee that oversees NASA , the United States ' ability to send astronauts to Mars in the mid-2030s depends , in part , on cutting back or ending government funding for the International Space Station after 2024 . While Bill Gerstenmaier urged Congress to plan a smooth transition from the station to beyond-low-Earth-orbit initiatives , with an eye on preserving U . S . leadership in space .
* NASA twins study researchers take genetic data to next level NASA astronaut Scott Kelly set a U . S . record of 340 days in space for a single mission as he returned to Earth from the International Space Station in March 2016 . Though Scott ' s twin brother , retired NASA astronaut Mark Kelly remained behind , the two men made and are making a significant contribution to future human deep space travel by serving as subjects in a range of health research projects . The " twin studies " are looking at how long space missions affect genes and how those changes influence physical and psychological well-being .
* Commercial Crew on tight but achievable timeline for crewed flights in 2018 Boeing and SpaceX are showing signs of achieving crewed test flights of their CST-100 Starliner and Dragon space capsules by the end of 2018 . Both are developing systems to transport astronauts to and from the International Space Station under NASA ' s Commercial Crew Program .
* NASA ' s human spaceflight plans come into focus with announcements of Deep Space Gateway For several years , NASA has been promoting their Journey to Mars and the role the SLS would play in missions to the Red Planet . While cislunar activities were mentioned as part of “ proving ground ” objectives , the agency was often light on details of what , exactly , that meant . Now , Bill Gerstenmaier – NASA ’ s chief of human spaceflight – presented some of the first concrete details of what will constitute activities in the proving ground . Using the new Space Launch System ( SLS ), NASA will launch infrastructure for the Deep Space Gateway , a base in cislunar orbit , which will be used for testing transportation systems to take humans to Mars . The Gateway will be launched in pieces on Exploration Missions 2-5 , currently slated to take place between 2018-2026 , with final testing of the transportation system to take place in 2029 .
* Jeff Bezos ' Blue Origin Plans Crewed Launch Within a Year The spaceflight company Blue Origin , which was founded by Amazon . com CEO Jeff Bezos , plans to launch its first crewed flight to suborbital space soon . " We ' re trying to get to our first human flights within the next year . That ' s a laser focus for the team right now ," Erika Wagner , Blue Origin ' s business development manager , told the audience at the New Space Age Conference on Saturday ( March 11 ) here at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology ' s Sloan School of Management . In November 2015 , Blue Origin made history when it landed its New Shepard rocket after an uncrewed test flight to suborbital space . This was the first time that any company or country had successfully completed a vertical takeoff and landing with a reusable rocket during a mission to space .
* NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson sets space duration record Early Monday morning , Whitson officially set the US record for most cumulative days in space , surpassing astronaut Jeff Williams ' record of 534 days , according to NASA . Whitson arrived at the space station for her current stint on November 19 , 2016 , and is due to return to Earth in September . Whitson also is the first woman to command the space station ; she has commanded it twice . Her first stint as commander was in April 2008 and she ' s commanding the current crew . She also holds the record for most spacewalks by a female astronaut . Whitson took her eighth spacewalk in March .
38 MOMENTUM / May 2017