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<\/p>\nThe gap in US domestic crew launch capability is coming to an end as soon as next month, concluding a convoluted and painful path that ultimately began when Columbia was lost during STS-107. The last time American astronauts launched from US soil was in 2011 with Shuttle Atlantis during STS-135. SpaceX\u2019s Falcon 9 is set to launch with Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken onboard the Crew Dragon as early as May 27.<\/p>\n
For decades, the US relied on the Space Shuttle as its crew launch vehicle. While the Shuttle era was filled with accomplishments, its cost and complexity curtailed its envisioned role in taking the US space program forward and was ultimately shackled by safety issues that resulted in the loss of two orbiters and their crews.<\/p>\n
The findings from The Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB) ultimately set NASA on a path to transition to a new crew vehicle, to be designed and built while the Space Shuttle Program concluded a final swansong of missions focused on the assembly of the International Space Station (ISS).<\/p>\n
Proclaimed as the Vision for Space Exploration (VSE) by President George W. Bush, it had the goal of sending US crews into deep space, and was announced while officially confirming the Space Shuttle Program was to end.<\/p>\n
As with most grandiose plans, the planning phase underwent numerous iterations, as the \u201cMoon, Mars and Beyond\u201d plan centralized into a \u201cConstellation Program (CxP)\u201d that used a flagship \u201cCrew Exploration Vehicle (CEV)\u201d that became the Orion of today \u2013 albeit after a multitude of design changes.<\/p>\n
Orion was, in fact, originally set to take over Shuttle duties by first transporting astronauts on crew rotations to the International Space Station (ISS), missions that would mature the vehicle for its deep space role with CxP, a program that included two launch vehicles, Ares I \u2013 dedicated for Orion launches, and Ares V \u2013 the heavy lifter.<\/p>\n
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Ares I and Ares V, a 1.5 launch system architecture for LEO and BEO missions. NASA render.<\/p>\n
A manifest was created, portraying a relatively small gap between the end of the Shuttle Program \u2013 designed to occur in 2010 to redirect Shuttle funding into CxP \u2013 to crew flights to the ISS on Orion.<\/p>\n
The original plan also called for the end of funding for the ISS in 2017, allowing for a refocus on Lunar missions with Orion, Ares I and Ares V \u2013 with the latter lofting the Altair Lunar Surface Access Module or LSAM.<\/p>\n
A realignment of funding was mostly required due to the cost of the hardware. Altair alone was classed as costing in the billions, a far cry from the costs expected for the commercial \u201cHuman Landing System\u201d contract that is set to be announced this week.<\/p>\n
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The CxP manifest, created in 2005 and acquired by NSF L2<\/p>\n
As with most major development programs, challenges soon arose with Ares I and Orion, further exacerbated by manifest stretch and additional demands on the Space Shuttle Program.<\/p>\n
Shuttle, having fought back from the Columbia disaster, was beginning to hit its stride again. Numerous post-Columbia safety improvements were proving their worth, allowing for the addition of missions to the latter part of the program\u2019s endgame.<\/p>\n
This included Atlantis\u2019 STS-125, a final servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope, albeit with Endeavour on rescue standby as STS-400 as this would become the only post-Columbia mission to fly without the \u201cSafe Haven\u201d of the ISS available to the crew.<\/p>\n