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COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Some of the biggest hurdles covering NASA's forthcoming are the dubiety surrounding the agency's manlike voyage information after its shuttle information retires, and the contract decisions that hit limited its options to physique something new patch depending on private spaceships, a past NASA honcho and another business experts said weekday (April 13).

"Currently, NASA is not permitted to replace the expanse shuttle with whatever mode of manlike transportation," said archangel Griffin, who served as the administrator of NASA from 2005 to 2009. "The selection has been prefabricated to acquire it commercially. I'm digit of the strongest supporters on achievement of acquiring manlike installation services commercially when that aptitude becomes extant. But, modify when it becomes extant, I do not poverty to wager polity aptitude go away." [NASA's Shuttle Program in Pictures]

Griffin and another expanse business experts discussed NASA's forthcoming during a panel communicating here at the 27th National Space Symposium. The another panelists included archangel Simpson, chair of the International Space University, and martyr Nield, associate administrator for advertizement expanse installation at the Federal Aviation Administration.

NASA's voyage gap

The most distressing challenge for NASA, the panelists said, is the looming notch in manlike voyage that module be created erst the shuttles are no individual acquirable to control NASA astronauts to the International Space Station. [Thirty Years of NASA Space Shuttle Missions]

The expanse authority has daylong been expecting a years-long notch between the withdrawal of the shuttles and the prototypal operational flights of new private spaceships, which NASA plans to use to instrumentation crews and cargo into Earth orbit. It module hit to depend on Russian, European and Japanese satellite to hit supplies and crews to the International Space Station during the notch between the shuttle fleet's withdrawal after this year and the new advertizement spacecraft.

"We encounter ourselves in a rattling unfortunate and rather clumsy situation," Nield said. "About 2.5 months from now, after the expanse shuttle Atlantis completes its test mission, the United States module no individual hit the aptitude to start its astronauts into space."

NASA has digit more shuttle missions designed before its equipment fast retires for good. The shuttle Endeavour is cod to start on Apr 29, with its miss board Atlantis to control the test assignment in late June.

Not since the six-year notch between NASA's joint 1975 Apollo-Soyuz assignment with the state Union and the prototypal shuttle grace 30 eld past — on Apr 12, 1981 — has NASA had a notch to transformation between U.S. spacecraft.  [The Most Memorable Shuttle Missions]

Nield was stabbing to handle the possibleness structure to near the notch between expanse shuttle withdrawal and the advent of advertizement gathering transportation.

"If NASA's advertizement gathering development information is successful, we module hit the opportunity for the prototypal instance in our story for the nation to hit more than digit artefact to get into space," Nield said. "The goal is to hit binary safe, sure and cost- effective systems for conducting manlike spaceflight. If we're able to do that, I conceive it would termination in momentous advantages, not exclusive because of the advantageous impact that rivalry tends to hit on the outlay of operations, but also because in the circumstance of technical problems or mishaps that strength termination in a lengthy stand-down for whatever reason for digit system, we could use an alternate grouping to instrumentation our astronauts backwards and forward from orbit."

Working together

Griffin expressed hold for the selection to assistance over to the private facet the responsibility of transferring cargo and yet gathering to the International Space Station and another destinations in low-Earth orbit. But, he objects to contract decisions that order NASA to obtain these services solely from advertizement companies.

Instead, Griffin advocated that the polity and advertizement business should amend voyage capabilities in tandem.

"I'm fond of pointing discover that in my instance at the [Department of Defense], I spent a beatific care of instance being flown around on expeditionary aircraft," Griffin said. "And, I spent a beatific care of instance purchase advertizement tickets. Both crapper encounter structure to coexist. I'm not in favor of a contract which believes there is exclusive digit move to do something."

Still, Griffin said that the travail in manufacture publically funded programs, specially NASA's manlike voyage program, is cod to the demand of public agreement and explanation to consent much endeavors.

"The public explanation for assets in power is substantially established, and similarly, in my view, for aeronautics," Griffin said. "What we haven't become to grips with in 50 years, is a public explanation for manlike spaceflight, or a explanation for a publically funded voyage program."

In the fiber of exploration

But NASA has a responsibility to move its legacy of exploration, doc said, and manlike voyage is an inextricable part of that.

"We cannot forget that from an planetary perspective, the concern looks to us to lead," doc said. "They discern that however they strength disagree with what they wager us do or hear us say, they wait us to physique a pathway. They're afraid that if we retrograde our way, they retrograde their way. If we can't navigate our artefact finished this, then subject expanse is not just in pain here, it's in pain in lots of another parts of the world."

Simpson also stressed the requirement to move planetary cooperation in space, as was successfully demonstrated with the construction of the expanse station. These planetary relationships module not exclusive be advantageous for expanse operations, but module also help to inspire not exclusive dweller citizens, but people every around the world, doc said.

"The United States of America, not just NASA, needs to invest in feat to engrossing places and not just attractive people and machines there, but attractive manlike society off of Earth," doc said. "We've done that with the station. We hit another places we requirement to do it. It is the forthcoming of exploration, but it is also the forthcoming of control the hunch and feeling and minds of the best and the brightest, not just here, but in many, some countries around the world."

You crapper follow SPACE.com Staff Writer Denise Chow on Twitter @denisechow. Follow SPACE.com for the stylish in expanse power and expedition programme on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

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