The United States Faces the Future of Outer Space

With the end of the space shuttles, NASA lacks adequate ships to send astronauts and cargo.

With the grounding of the Atlantis last Thursday, the United States closed a chapter in the evolution of manned space travel without a new vehicle to replace the successful series of space shuttles that served as the link between Earth and space for three decades.

The economic crisis got to NASA, which will enter into a passive stage with great social impact on Florida. More than 7,000 very qualified jobs will be lost at the Kennedy Space Center and other places, as well as in other agencies that develop advanced technology. In addition, tourist investments from the attraction that this launch center generated to hundreds of thousands of annual visitors will suffer.

The austere continuation of the United States in space has other aims/goals, like the Constellation Project, announced by President Barack Obama and destined to again put astronauts on the moon and construct a capsule and rocket that carry astronauts to an asteroid and finally to Mars. Clearly these plans will not be initiated immediately; and if the Space Agency could put them into motion right now, they would employ 8,500 people, in contrast to the 17,000 that gave life to the space center during the space shuttle era. What is certain is that NASA was left without ships for specific tasks and now depends on Russia to equip them with supplies and replacement astronauts for the International Space Station.

Politics also comes in at this juncture. Moscow will look to regain hegemony in space that was lost to the hands of the North Americans after the Soviet collapse, and is now filling the space left by the shuttles with the legendary Soyuz ships that, although ancient, are reliable after having had their analog electronics replaced with digital. But the Soyuz is still totally incompatible with the grounded American shuttles: the Soyuz only carries three astronauts, while the space shuttles could carry up to seven men and 30 tons of cargo.

Even though Russia assures that it is not behind in space technology, it is evident that its budget only manages to update the existing equipment, because it hasn’t surprised anyone with new devices meant for conquering space either. In order to achieve mutual objectives and for the good of the progress of humanity, the cooperation that nations advanced in this field have is necessary.