Issues
and Opportunities Regarding the U.S. Space Program
A
Summary Report of a Workshop on National Space Policy
Radford
Byerly, Jr., University of Colorado
Richard
B. Leshner and Pamela L. Whitney, Space Studies Board
National
Research Council of the National Academies
What
should the United States be doing in space? What comes after the
Space Shuttle? What's to be done with the International Space Station?
Why return to the Moon? Why travel to Mars? Use robots or human
astronauts? What are the costs? What are the benefits?
What is the role of NASA? And what exactly is the future of the U.S.
aerospace industry?
Following
the Apollo program the roles and direction of human space flight often
have been controversial and uncertain. The aftermath of the shuttle
Columbia
tragedy in February 2003 initiated a growing public debate over the purpose
and future of the U.S. civil space program.
Human
spaceflight remains an American patrimony, yet China, India, and Brazil
will soon be exploring space--and the Moon--as well.
An intensive
national workshop met recently to explore aspects of the broad question:
"What should be the principal purposes, goals, and priorities of the U.S.
civil space program?" This report is a summary of that unusual workshop,
relating the range of views and perspectives that now exist.
This
new (2004) report was produced with the support of the National Academy
of Sciences and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
Critical issues on the physical, knowledge, technology, human, and applications
frontiers are discussed and explored.
It focuses
on the human spaceflight program, the nature of space exploration, the
future of space biomedicine, the construction and servicing of new space
telescopes. It covers issues about the contributions of science and
exploration, the economic contributions of space, space and foreign policy,
and interactions among national security, military, and civilian space
efforts.
The documents
reviews the key questions about human exploration of space--especially
how
to create goals or destinations that excite the imagination. It discusses
the political and scientific decisions needed, including those needed to
reconstruct NASA with a new leadership style.
It covers
motivations for missions to the Moon and Mars, the synergy between human
and robotic missions, and investigations of gravity and weightless environments.
Contents
of the book included:
-
Origins
of U.S. space policy
-
Rationales
for the space program: science, technology, and exploration
-
Rationales
for the space program: national security, commerce, and international cooperation
-
Guiding
principles of a 21st Century space policy
-
Boundary
conditions for forging a 21st Century space policy
-
Workshop
agenda
-
Workshop
participants
-
Statement
of task
-
Biographies
of workshop speakers
-
Abstracts
prepared by workshop panelists
The document
includes summaries of the various panelists' remarks, and general discussions
of each of the several workshop sessions. There is also biographical
material on the workshop speakers, and extended abstracts prepared by the
invited panelists.
We offer
this rare digital reprint, printed with a high-resolution laser printer
(not photocopied)
on high-quality, bright-white, 24-pound, acid-free paper for years of reference
use. It’s is an attractive, quality-bound volume with 89 pages, measuring
8.5 x 5.5-inches. ISBN 0-309-53010-5 $9.95
|
USA
(Insured
Priority Mail: $4.60)
|
|
International
(Priority Airmail: $11.00) |
We
ship worldwide -- you pay only actual postal costs: combine several books
into one shipment to save!
100%
positive comments
from more than 3,300 happy customers worldwide!
Many
other unusual books in our eBay
Store !
Ordering
by mail ? Other
questions ?
|
