Matt Wronkiewicz's Weblog

In Future of NASA: Analysis, I mentioned that I would be sending a message to President Obama concerning the options for human spaceflight included in the initial report of the Review of U.S. Human Space Flight Plans Committee. Well, here it is:

Mr. President:
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to write to you concerning the Review of U.S. Human Space Flight Plans Committee. I was very impressed by the public meetings and the documents released by the committee. Their deliberations have been thoughtful… Read More

Over the past couple of weeks I have written several posts about the alternative architectures proposed by the Review of U.S. Human Space Flight Plans Committee, also known as one of the Augustine Committees. Most recently I posted timelines of each architecture:

• The Program of Record
• ISS Focused (Constrained Budget)
• ISS Focused (Increased Budget)
• ISS/Shuttle Extension
• Deep… Read More

Previous: Deep Space (Commercial HLV)

The Review of U.S. Human Space Flight Plans Committee has drawn up several alternate architectures for NASA to pursue its mission of sending astronauts beyond low Earth orbit (LEO). For a more complete summary, see "Future of NASA: Program of Record". The seventh architecture in the list is focused on exploration missions to deep space using a Shuttle-derived heavy-lift launch vehicle (SDLV), assuming an increased budget of $3 billion per year.

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Previous: Deep Space (Ares V "Light")
Next: Deep Space (Shuttle Derived)

The Review of U.S. Human Space Flight Plans Committee has drawn up several alternate architectures for NASA to pursue its mission of sending astronauts beyond low Earth orbit (LEO). For a more complete summary, see "Future of NASA: Program of Record". The sixth architecture in the list is focused on exploration missions to deep space, assuming an increased budget of $3 billion per year. The committee… Read More

Previous: ISS/Shuttle Extension
Next: Deep Space (Commercial HLV)

The Review of U.S. Human Space Flight Plans Committee has drawn up several alternate architectures for NASA to pursue its mission of sending astronauts beyond low Earth orbit (LEO). For a more complete summary, see "Future of NASA: Program of Record". The fifth architecture in the list is focused on exploration missions to deep space, assuming an increased budget of $3 billion per year.

Read More

Previous: ISS Focused (Increased Budget)
Next: Deep Space (Ares V "Light")

The Review of U.S. Human Space Flight Plans Committee has drawn up several alternate architectures for NASA to pursue its mission of sending astronauts beyond low Earth orbit (LEO). For a more complete summary, see "Future of NASA: Program of Record". The fourth architecture in the list is ISS focused with additional Space Shuttle flights, assuming an increased budget of $3 billion per year. Of… Read More

Previous: ISS Focused (Constrained Budget)
Next: ISS/Shuttle Extension

The Review of U.S. Human Space Flight Plans Committee has drawn up several alternate architectures for NASA to pursue its mission of sending astronauts beyond low Earth orbit (LEO). For a more complete summary, see "Future of NASA: Program of Record". The third architecture in the list is ISS focused, with an increased budget of about $3 billion per year.

Read More

Previous: Program of Record
Next: ISS Focused (Increased Budget)

The Review of U.S. Human Space Flight Plans Committee has drawn up several alternate architectures for NASA to pursue its mission of sending astronauts beyond low Earth orbit (LEO). For a more complete summary, see "Future of NASA: Program of Record". The second architecture in the list is ISS focused, constrained to fit the projected budget. This architecture is not recommended by the committee because it… Read More

Next: ISS Focused (Constrained Budget)

The Review of U.S. Human Space Flight Plans Committee has drawn up several alternate architectures for NASA to pursue its mission of sending astronauts beyond low Earth orbit (LEO). At the final public meeting, the members presented and then discussed all of the architectures that would be presented in their final report. This presents an opportunity for the space community to digest and decide on a course of action before the President and Congress even have a chance to read it. I have… Read More

Thanks to the committee's Twitter feed and some folks over at NASASpaceFlight.com, I was able to piece together the final options that will appear in the committee's initial report, to be presented to the White House on Friday. In its final report, the committee will not recommend one particular option, but will simply present the facts. Each of these options represents the combination of several architectural choices, adjusted for budget and schedule. Some architectural choices were discarded entirely. Several options will be presented as "for reference… Read More