When Space Shuttle Atlantis made its final landing at the Kennedy Space Center, on 21 July 2011, NASA’s iconic Space Transportation System was already 15 years beyond its originally planned service life—thanks in part to the delayed construction of the International Space Station (ISS).
Despite this significant extension, the agency did not have a successor ready to roll onto the launch pad, leaving almost every aspect of NASA’s and the wider US space program somewhat reliant on Russian and Ukrainian rocketry. Recent hostilities between these two nations concerning the Crimean have naturally increased concerns about this state of affairs.
At the time of writing NASA is currently preparing for the first flight test of its new Orion spacecraft—designed to carry crews beyond low earth-orbit— along with its new “ground-up designed” Space Launch System (SLS). Servicing the needs of ISS, meantime, has been opened up to commercial industry, with four companies bidding for the work…
Article first published in BBC Sky at Night magazine, #115 December 2014.
