There’s a misconception in some quarters that NASA’s glory days are behind it. After all, the Apollo Moon landings, still widely recognized as humankind’s greatest technological achievement, occurred almost five decades ago.
But NASA is just getting started.
NASA is now 60. As we reflect on the agency’s early successes, we also need to note its recent accomplishments. The agency has toured the solar system robotically, sent a probe to Pluto and confirmed the existence of water on the Moon and Mars. Throughout its six-decade journey, NASA has not only revolutionized our understanding of the Earth and enabled us to explore distant worlds, but has also rewritten astronomy textbooks with missions like the Hubble Space Telescope and the Chandra X-Ray Observatory.
Today, NASA has a fleet of science missions exploring the solar system and beyond. Together with international partners and teamed with the private sector, NASA has a plan to return astronauts to the Moon in its near-term sights, with human missions to Mars as a long-term objective. When the latter might occur is anyone’s guess, but most informed observers would agree that the window opens somewhere around the early to mid-2030s.
To some that seems a long way off, particularly in light of the fact that NASA pulled off the Moon landings relatively early in the Space Age, and less than seven years after receiving a mandate to do so. The huge resources dedicated to Apollo brought a flurry of firsts for the U.S. space program. But Apollo was unique— a high-priority national program designed to demonstrate American dynamism, technical prowess, and the values of an open society during Cold War competition with the Soviet Union. A more disciplined examination of NASA’s history reveals something else: a path of steady progress, with each step laying the scientific and technological groundwork for the next.
Consider, for example, that it was only with the 2015 flyby of Pluto that NASA completed its initial reconnaissance of the solar system – more than 50 years after the first planetary flyby of Venus by the Mariner 2 spacecraft. NASA’s incremental strategy is also evident in the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion crew-carrying spacecraft that are currently being developed. These are the highest-profile elements of the agency’s plan to return astronauts to the Moon. SLS and Orion feature main propulsion systems adapted from NASA’s now-retired Space Shuttle, a machine that debuted in 1981 and was not designed for operations beyond low Earth orbit.
SLS and Orion are slated to debut in 2020 with an uncrewed mission that will send the spacecraft to the vicinity of the Moon – or cislunar space – and back. The second mission will carry astronauts on a similar flight profile. To support astronaut activities near and on the Moon, NASA is developing the lunar Gateway, a maneuverable, multipurpose cislunar station that can be used to stage international, scientific, government and privately funded missions while providing habitation and logistics support. Once constructed the Gateway also may become a serviceable hub for reusable vehicles flying from Earth and for excursions to and from the lunar surface.
While focused initially on the Moon, SLS, Orion and the Gateway are stepping stones to more distant destinations. Following upgrades that are built into their basic designs and paired with consumables and additional volume, SLS and Orion will be capable of launching and carrying astronauts on missions to Mars and other destinations. SLS also will hasten NASA’s mission to send larger, more capable robotic probes to places like Jupiter’s moon Europa, which scientists think could harbor life under its ice-covered surface.
On the immediate horizon, NASA is preparing to launch its biggest observatory yet into space—the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). The size of a tennis court, JWST will peer back in time to the formation of the first galaxies, observing early formation of stars and planets and hopefully discovering indications of life beyond our solar system. Scientists and engineers are now looking at even bigger telescopes to assist in the search for Earth 2.0. When that occurs it will be an achievement of monumental proportions.
What we are witnessing in these efforts is not the compacted program that was Apollo. It is instead a far more deliberate, step-by-step approach; one that is dictated by the physical – and yes, political – challenges of reaching the Moon, Mars and looking for life inside and outside our solar system. The good news is, we’re getting there, slowly but surely.
When you think about all that NASA has accomplished, 60 is pretty young. Looking ahead, advances in space exploration and the value they provide to the nation will be realized on a time scale measured in generations, not years.
Neil Armstrong famously characterized his first step on the Moon as “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” When the time comes to make that next great leap on humanity’s behalf, NASA will be one small step away.
Written by: Dr. Mary Lynne Dittmar, president and CEO, the Coalition for Deep Space Exploration and current member of the National Space Council User’s Advisory Group