What is next for NASA as far as cargo to space?

[Bill Thompson]

What is next for NASA as far as cargo to space?

Is the US Air Force going to have some sort of space plane?

How are astronauts going to go to and from the IIS?

Is there a web forum that does not suck that discusses this?

[EdipisReks]

rented Soyuz flights for a good long while, i would imagine.

[Father Dagon]

Is the US Air Force going to have some sort of space plane?Has there been any serious research into space planes in recent decades? And what about the "Tintin-rockets"?

Anyway, good thing that the shuttle program has finally come to an end. Did you know that the cargo bay was originally intended for stealing soviet satellites stationed right over the North Pole?

[Bill Thompson]

I saw something about the airforce using something that looked like a smaller space shuttle. They have already tested it. But mostly it is all hush-hush.

[ohms]

Has there been any serious research into space planes in recent decades?

Yep, the X-37 programme (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-37B) is ongoing.

[Father Dagon]

Yep, the X-37 programme (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-37B) is ongoing.Cool!

But no real space planes that can land and start from any regular runway? And what happened to the "space helicopter" where the nozzles was on the undersides of the blades?

[NewtonTrino]

SpaceX is IMHO well positioned to take over a lot of the launches we need. They are currently scheduled to deliver cargo to the ISS. Their human capable craft is well under way and has already flown on test flights. Unless our government screws them they should be able to start flying astronauts to the ISS within a couple of years.

http://www.spacex.com/

[Mikemcc]

At the moment personnel are going to use Soyuz, cargo is going via ATV (2 more flights) and Progress.

SpaceX is working on the Dragon capsule for manned flight and has contracts with NASA to develop systems to supply cargo too. The Falcon 9 is capable enough and the F9 Heavy will be more than capable.

EADS is also hoping to get funding for a man-capable version of the ATV and for further funding for more cargo missions.

Boeing has now got funding for the new manned capsules for NASA.

Plenty of work out there!

[MrQhuest]

Cargo?
The Delta rocket series has been providing steady successful cargo launches for decades. And will continue to to so for years to come. The Delta IV heavy can put over 13K kg into geo-stationary orbit, or over 9K kg into escape trajectory.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delta_IV#Delta_IV_Heavy

Human Cargo, on the other hand, well, better work on your Russian...

MrQ

[theprestige]

Why should NASA be involved in cargo-to-space at all, at this point? Isn't NASA supposed to be about cutting-edge aerospace technology and science projects?

I, for one, will be sorely disappointed if NASA spends any of its woefully reduced budget on "cargo to space", other than as a customer buying the most cost-effective service available.

[MG1962]

Why should NASA be involved in cargo-to-space at all, at this point? Isn't NASA supposed to be about cutting-edge aerospace technology and science projects?

I, for one, will be sorely disappointed if NASA spends any of its woefully reduced budget on "cargo to space", other than as a customer buying the most cost-effective service available.

That seems to be the plan. NASA is going back to its core mission. let private enterprise look after the truck driving

[Checkmite]

So what I'm getting from all this is that America's manned space program is pretty much done and history. Coming Soon is the SpaceX® Manned Space Program™.

[Beelzebuddy]

America's manned space program is pretty much done and history.

It's been dying since the Challenger exploded. No politician was gonna put his neck on the line for the shuttle after that, and no one was willing to spend the political capital to make a replacement. So, we've had a long line of half-assed projects and replacements for the shuttle that all wound up stillborn because we could technically still limp along with this cold war relic hanging around our necks.

Now things are different. We can no longer into space at all. Russia can put men in orbit. China can put men in orbit. We can't. That will worry some important people. We can only hope that it'll worry them enough.

[Father Dagon]

Why should NASA be involved in cargo-to-space at all, at this point? Isn't NASA supposed to be about cutting-edge aerospace technology and science projects?

I, for one, will be sorely disappointed if NASA spends any of its woefully reduced budget on "cargo to space", other than as a customer buying the most cost-effective service available.But don't forget that NASA for decades nursed a logical offshoot of the 60's idea of the pilot as a tax-funded rock star. The roots to that idea can be traced in Tom Wolfe's The Right Stuff. The idea is dying and will probably soon be replaced by a better idea of what pilots are supposed to be. Because in all these stories of air traffic pilots sleeping on the job etc, there's this confusion between the lines. "They got the best job in the world. They're rock stars. Why are they misbehavng?"