- LRK -
-------------------------------------
http://history.nasa.gov/
PIONEERING THE SPACE FRONTIER
An Exciting
Vision of Our Next Fifty
Years in Space
The Report of the National Commission on Space
snip
LOOKING FIFTY YEARS INTO THE FUTURE
The year is 1935. Pan American Airways is inaugurating trans-Pacific service, with additional flying boats on order to open trans-Atlantic service in 1939. The last Pony Express rider turns over his mail pouch to a young biplane pilot while newsreel cameras grind. Almost nobody expects to fly the Atlantic-that's for daredevils like Lindbergh-but half a million people per year cross in ocean liners. Washington's chief concern is the Federal Deficit: $30 billion in revenues versus $50 billion in outlays (1985 dollars).
The year is 1985. Could we explain to a visitor from 1935 that more than 25 million people now fly the Atlantic every year? That 16 years ago astronauts flew at 24,790 miles per hour to the Moon? That communication satellites are flashing color television signals around the world? That a spacecraft has transmitted pictures and data from Uranus across 1.8 billion miles , and is now flying on to Neptune? That supercomputers are being used to design next-generation spacecraft that will drastically reduce the cost of space travel? Washington's grappling with the Federal Budget deficit might sound familiar, but 50 years of cumulative technological advance would be beyond comprehension.
What will 2035 be like? The National Commission on Space has been charged by the Congress and the President to look into the future to propose civilian space goals for 21st-century America. It is as challenging for us today to envision the advanced world of 2035 as it was to foresee today's world back in 1935. Even the most visionary science fiction writer then failed to foresee the scale of the resources that would be needed to initiate the Space Age, and that no one imagined these would become available within 25 years. Looking to the future, we are confident that the next century will see pioneering men and women from many nations working and living throughout the inner Solar System. Space travel will be as safe and inexpensive for our grandchildren as jet travel is for us. Our vision and our recommendations are outlined in this report.
Through vigorous leadership on the space frontier, America can make this happen.
snip
http://history.nasa.gov/
DECLARATION FOR SPACE
Having been appointed by the President of the United States and charged by the Congress to formulate a bold agenda to carry America's civilian space enterprise into the 2 1st century; and
Having met together throughout the better part of a year to obtain testimony from experts, and from a cross-section of citizens across the country; and
Having projected the next 50 years of the Space Age, and deliberated on America's goals for the next 20 years; and
Having prepared thereby to place before the Nation a rationale and a program to assure continuing American leadership in space;
We, the members of the National Commission on Space, now propose these space goals for 21st.-century America....
A PIONEERING MISSION FOR 2lst-CENTURY AMERICA.
To lead the exploration and development of the space frontier, advancing science, technology, and enterprise, and building institutions and systems that make accessible vast new resources and support human settlements beyond Earth orbit, from the highlands of the Moon to the plains of Mars.
snip
LUIS W. ALVAREZ
NEIL A. ARMSTRONG
PAUL J. COLEMAN
GEORGE B. FIELD
WILLIAM H. FITCH
CHARLES M. HERZFELD
JACK L. KERREBROCK
JEANIE J. KIRKPATRICK
GERARD K. O'NEILL
THOMAS O. PAINE
BERNARD A. SCHRIEVER
KATHRYN D. SULLIVAN
DAVID C. WEBB
LAUREL. L. WILKENING
CHARLES E. YEAGER
------------------------------
PDF version (with some of the images) and 225 pages, 2.8 MB. I think easier to read than the html pages if you can look at PDF files. - LRK
-
http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/
Tiny URL for the above - http://tinyurl.com/2c2us6g
Worth a read if for no other reason to make you mad that we have not followed the suggestions or taken to heart the concept that we can be a children of space, adventuring into the unknown.
- LRK -
On page 209.
------------------------------
109
The Commission believes that cheaper, more reliable means for transporting both people and cargo to and from orbit must be achieved in the next 20 years. While all space programs would benefit from lower cost orbital transportation, it is especially important that the cost be dramatically reduced for free enterprise to flourish with commercialization of space operations. The Commission is confident that the cost of transportation can and should be reduced below $200 per pound (in 1986 dollars) by the year 2000. If the volume of cargo increases in the early 21st century as it is projected to do, further cost reductions should be achieved.
Should the United States choose not to undertake achievement of these economies in launch and recovery capability, then the Nation must face the probability that other nations will rapidly overtake our position as the world’s leading spacefaring nation. The competition to get into space and to operate effectively there is real.
Above all, it is imperative that the United States maintain a continuous capability to put both humans and cargo into orbit; never again should the country experience the hiatus we endured from 1975 to 1981, when we were unable to launch astronauts into space.
The Commission sees several elements that are critical to achieving more economical and reliable orbital transport. In the next-generation systems we must separate the functions of one-way cargo transport from the round-trip transport of humans and high value cargo to and from orbit. The extra costs associated with round-trip transport of people should not be imposed on vehicles optimized for cargo transport alone. Thus, for the next generation the Commission envisions two operational needs: cargo transport and passenger transport, which may or may not be met with the same family of vehicles.
snip
------------------------------
Thanks for looking up with me.
- LRK -
==============================
PIONEERING THE SPACE FRONTIER
An Exciting
Vision of Our Next Fifty
Years in Space
The Report of the National Commission on Space
snip
LOOKING FIFTY YEARS INTO THE FUTURE
The year is 1935. Pan American Airways is inaugurating trans-Pacific service, with additional flying boats on order to open trans-Atlantic service in 1939. The last Pony Express rider turns over his mail pouch to a young biplane pilot while newsreel cameras grind. Almost nobody expects to fly the Atlantic-that's for daredevils like Lindbergh-but half a million people per year cross in ocean liners. Washington's chief concern is the Federal Deficit: $30 billion in revenues versus $50 billion in outlays (1985 dollars).
The year is 1985. Could we explain to a visitor from 1935 that more than 25 million people now fly the Atlantic every year? That 16 years ago astronauts flew at 24,790 miles per hour to the Moon? That communication satellites are flashing color television signals around the world? That a spacecraft has transmitted pictures and data from Uranus across 1.8 billion miles , and is now flying on to Neptune? That supercomputers are being used to design next-generation spacecraft that will drastically reduce the cost of space travel? Washington's grappling with the Federal Budget deficit might sound familiar, but 50 years of cumulative technological advance would be beyond comprehension.
What will 2035 be like? The National Commission on Space has been charged by the Congress and the President to look into the future to propose civilian space goals for 21st-century America. It is as challenging for us today to envision the advanced world of 2035 as it was to foresee today's world back in 1935. Even the most visionary science fiction writer then failed to foresee the scale of the resources that would be needed to initiate the Space Age, and that no one imagined these would become available within 25 years. Looking to the future, we are confident that the next century will see pioneering men and women from many nations working and living throughout the inner Solar System. Space travel will be as safe and inexpensive for our grandchildren as jet travel is for us. Our vision and our recommendations are outlined in this report.
Through vigorous leadership on the space frontier, America can make this happen.
snip
http://history.nasa.gov/
DECLARATION FOR SPACE
Having been appointed by the President of the United States and charged by the Congress to formulate a bold agenda to carry America's civilian space enterprise into the 2 1st century; and
Having met together throughout the better part of a year to obtain testimony from experts, and from a cross-section of citizens across the country; and
Having projected the next 50 years of the Space Age, and deliberated on America's goals for the next 20 years; and
Having prepared thereby to place before the Nation a rationale and a program to assure continuing American leadership in space;
We, the members of the National Commission on Space, now propose these space goals for 21st.-century America....
A PIONEERING MISSION FOR 2lst-CENTURY AMERICA.
To lead the exploration and development of the space frontier, advancing science, technology, and enterprise, and building institutions and systems that make accessible vast new resources and support human settlements beyond Earth orbit, from the highlands of the Moon to the plains of Mars.
snip
LUIS W. ALVAREZ
NEIL A. ARMSTRONG
PAUL J. COLEMAN
GEORGE B. FIELD
WILLIAM H. FITCH
CHARLES M. HERZFELD
JACK L. KERREBROCK
JEANIE J. KIRKPATRICK
GERARD K. O'NEILL
THOMAS O. PAINE
BERNARD A. SCHRIEVER
KATHRYN D. SULLIVAN
DAVID C. WEBB
LAUREL. L. WILKENING
CHARLES E. YEAGER
------------------------------
PDF version (with some of the images) and 225 pages, 2.8 MB. I think easier to read than the html pages if you can look at PDF files. - LRK
-
http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/
Tiny URL for the above - http://tinyurl.com/2c2us6g
Worth a read if for no other reason to make you mad that we have not followed the suggestions or taken to heart the concept that we can be a children of space, adventuring into the unknown.
- LRK -
On page 209.
------------------------------
109
The Commission believes that cheaper, more reliable means for transporting both people and cargo to and from orbit must be achieved in the next 20 years. While all space programs would benefit from lower cost orbital transportation, it is especially important that the cost be dramatically reduced for free enterprise to flourish with commercialization of space operations. The Commission is confident that the cost of transportation can and should be reduced below $200 per pound (in 1986 dollars) by the year 2000. If the volume of cargo increases in the early 21st century as it is projected to do, further cost reductions should be achieved.
Should the United States choose not to undertake achievement of these economies in launch and recovery capability, then the Nation must face the probability that other nations will rapidly overtake our position as the world’s leading spacefaring nation. The competition to get into space and to operate effectively there is real.
Above all, it is imperative that the United States maintain a continuous capability to put both humans and cargo into orbit; never again should the country experience the hiatus we endured from 1975 to 1981, when we were unable to launch astronauts into space.
The Commission sees several elements that are critical to achieving more economical and reliable orbital transport. In the next-generation systems we must separate the functions of one-way cargo transport from the round-trip transport of humans and high value cargo to and from orbit. The extra costs associated with round-trip transport of people should not be imposed on vehicles optimized for cargo transport alone. Thus, for the next generation the Commission envisions two operational needs: cargo transport and passenger transport, which may or may not be met with the same family of vehicles.
snip
------------------------------
Thanks for looking up with me.
- LRK -
==============================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
==============================
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