What do you know about NASA?

Some of our employees and I live on the "Space Coast" of Florida. Our area code is even "321" for 3..2..1 launch. You've probably heard of the end of the Shuttle program, but do you know what is in the works now? I am interested to hear what the outside world knows or thinks of the American space program and human space flight in general and its current status. I find that many outsiders think "NASA is dead" and consider human space flight in the United States over and gone.

Being an IT nerd, I am EXTREMELY interested in the goings on of NASA and the local rocket launches. I think there is no greater purpose for mankind than to expand our knowledge and explore. I wish that there were more people as concerned about it as I am. With that said, I have become quite the expert on the goings on of NASA and private/commercial space flight. I'd also be thrilled to answer anyone's questions.

If you are interested, here is a brief summary of what is going on around here. NASA still has 3 "ranges" in the US that are actively used. Here in Cape Canaveral, and also Vandenburg Airforce Base in California and Wallops on the Virginia shore. Currently in Cape Canaveral, we see 3 types of unmanned rocket launches. Atlas V, Delta IV, and SpaceX Falcon. SpaceX is probably the most interesting and historic. It is Elon Musk's company, the founder of PayPal and Tesla Motors. It is part of NASA's commercial resupply and commercial crewed missions. Basically, SpaceX is competing with others (Orbital Sciences, Sierra Nevada, etc) to win big monetary rewards from NASA to complete certain "milestones" for crewed and unmanned flights. I have witnessed every SpaceX launch and every launch in general since I have lived here. SpaceX and now Orbital Sciences (launching from Virginia) have already won contracts to resupply the International Space Station. There have been several unmanned cargo missions to the ISS in the past year or two. It is very exciting to see the results of the commercial program and the competition it is creating. SpaceX was just awarded a lease on a former Space Shuttle launch pad at Kennedy Space Center, which is still alive and thriving again. They also plan to takeover crewed missions to the ISS along with their competitors. Did you know that we are replacing the Shuttle (whose only mission was to go into LEO - low Earth Orbit) with MUCH more economical commercial rockets? And how far we've made it? Probably not.

Meanwhile, NASA is saving a ton by letting the commercial companies deal with replacing the main functions of the Shuttle Program and is instead putting its money and resources into a new super rocket. The Space Launch System (SLS) is under development and will be the most powerful rocket in the world. It will launch the Orion Capsule, which was created under the former Constellation Program that was shutdown/modified. It is basically the next Apollo Capsule. It will take us to asteroid(s) and beyond to Mars (if the commercial companies don't get there first). There is a test launch of the Orion Capsule, unmanned, scheduled for Decemeber.

Many of the jobs lost at the end of the Shuttle Program are being replaced and former facilities are being leased to competitive commercial companies. Space flight is coming back and coming back strong in the US! Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

Timeline:

First launch of the taxpayer funded Orion Capsule (unmanned): December of this year
First manned launch from SpaceX or another commercial company to ISS: Expected by 2016 or 2017
First launch of the new taxpayer funded Space Launch System super rocket (unmanned): 2017
First launch of NASA, taxpayer funded SLS mission with humans on a deep space mission: 2021

Lots of exciting things coming for me to watch from my backyard in Florida. I love it! I am interested to hear how much of this is a surprise to you all and I'm also glad to answer any questions you may have, since I have become pretty familiar with what is going on around here!

 

Wow, what great update on a very important issue! I agree that space exploration is (or should be) a primary purpose of mankind and, in fact, it is the only way to ensure the survival of the species. I cannot tell you how pleased I am to hear of the ongoing projects. While I am very interested in the topic, there has been scant news about it. I knew that SpaceX won a competition and further funding a year or two ago and I kept hearing about NASA having plans for Mars, but I did not realize that some good things are happening beyond that.

My sales teams and I used to sell control design and nonlinear simulation software to NASA. One of our customers, a lead scientist/engineer on the spacesuit program, was based at Mission Control in Houston. I used to make a point to call him late afternoon on a Shuttle launch day and he would usually take my call and tell me about the "fire drills" they went through that day because of this alarm or that alert or whatever would cause them to worry that something had gone wrong with one of the spacesuits.

It is great to hear that NASA has not been as gutted as was my impression from the scant news reports about them these days. Obviously, it was a PR disaster for them to have to give up manned flights.