Space Shuttle Discovery Makes Final Landing - What's Next for Program, and NASA?

March 9, 2011 - The Space Shuttle Discovery made its final operational landing at Florida's Kennedy Space Center. After a 27-year operational life, with over 148 million miles flown during 39 missions, Discovery will gallantly move into retirement.

Discovery was the first shuttle to visit the International Space Station. Discovery delivered the Hubble Space Telescope, giving us previously unimagined views deep into space, looking so far as to see parts of the cosmos from the very beginning. Discovery, along with the other shuttles, always gave us reason to look up.

As STS-133 came to an end, so did an era. With only two more missions for the shuttle program, some NASA and contract workers are facing layoff. In addition to the job losses, NASA will not have an orbital vehicle capable of docking with the International Space Station for the immediate future. Astronauts will have to hitch rides on Russian Soyuz capsules.

All three shuttles will spend their retirement in museums. Discovery will most likely go to the Smithsonian, while 29 other facilities are in competition for the other two. Endeavour is scheduled for its last launch on April 19, and June 28 will see the final liftoff for Atlantis.

With no clear successor to the shuttle for orbital lift, NASA is hoping private companies will step in to fill the gap. The uncertainty may threaten the space industrial base, according to a top industry executive.

Jim Maser, president of Pratt and Whitney Rocketdyne, warned of potential layoffs of hundreds of employees if NASA doesn't nail down replacement options for work performed by the shuttle fleet quickly. Budget uncertainties and a lack of a clear plan might cause suppliers to leave the industry, according to Maser. The resulting gap could make it harder for programs to be completed on time.

NASA wants to use money freed up from the ending of the shuttle program to continue launching unmanned probes while developing a craft to carry astronauts to the moon again. With the cancellation of the Constellation program, that goal is uncertain too. Some other possibilities being discussed include landing on asteroids and working toward a manned expedition to Mars.

At the core of the debate is a central question: Should space exploration be performed by robotic craft, or by manned spaceships carrying intrepid explorers into the final frontier? Also, will space exploration be open to privatization? Important questions, which NASA and the scientific community will have to grapple with while being constrained by budgetary concerns.

World renowned physicist Stephen Hawking feels manned spaceflight to be imperative. He suggests that the world should spend about 10 times the current budget of NASA, with a strong emphasis on manned missions.

"A goal of a base on the Moon by 2020 and of a manned landing on Mars by 2025 would reignite the space program and give it a sense of purpose in the same way that President Kennedy's Moon target did in the 1960s," Hawking said.

Sources:
NASA, www.nasa.gov, missions index
Andrea Halal-Esa, "UTC unit sees crisis in US space industrial base."
Casey Kazan, Rebecca Sato, "The future of space exploration - manned or robotic missions?"