What will replace the space shuttle

Someday, SpaceX hopes to use the Dragon to take astronauts to other destinations — perhaps space tourists visiting inflatable space stations in development by the Bigelow Aerospace. Some have suggested that a modified Dragon could even be used for a mission to Mars. In the meantime, though, SpaceX will continue using the Dragon to carry cargo to the International Space Station — beginning with a fourth cargo mission this weekend — followed by testing of the crewed Dragon V2 over the next three years.

A rendering of Boeing's CST It's a pyramid-shaped capsule that will be launched to space atop a rocket. Initially, this would be the Atlas V rocket — which was developed by Boeing and Lockheed Martin and has been putting satellites in space since — but the CST could eventually be compatible with other rockets as well. Musk has criticized Boeing for relying on Russian-made engines in launching the rocket, and in response, Boeing is reportedly in talks with the space startup Blue Origin to develop an American-made replacement engine.

The CST capsule isn't quite as far along as the Dragon: Boeing has conducted some tests of the capsule, dropping it from 14, feet over the Nevada desert, but it hasn't been put into space yet, let alone orbit.

However, several further launch tests are planned for the next few years. Boeing also hopes to eventually use the capsule for space tourists, and developed it in collaboration with Bigelow Aerospace partly for this reason. Our mission has never been more vital than it is in this moment: to empower through understanding. This may be the most dangerous part of the flight. During re-entry, Orion is in a fireball. Onboard systems ignite jets to keep the ship pointed correctly so that a specially constructed shield takes the full brunt of the inferno.

After re-entry, it is time for Orion to slow down. Even though its speed has dropped to about miles per hour, that is still too fast to land safely in the ocean.

Orion has specially designed parachutes to help slow the spacecraft down to a gentle pace, keeping things comfortable for a future crew. Nondestructive evaluations validated the strength and integrity of the weld before the spacecraft was prepped for ground testing in flight-like environments, including static vibration, acoustics and water landing tests. Orion may resemble its Apollo-era predecessors, but its technology and capability are light years apart.

Orion features dozens of technology advancements and innovations that have been incorporated into the spacecraft's subsystem and component design. Technicians position microphones around the Orion and launch abort system test articles in preparation for the second round of testing in the acoustic chamber.

Navy used the test version of Orion to practice for recovery of the capsule on its return from a deep space mission. Technicians and engineers at Kennedy Space Center put the finishing touches on the crew module that will fly in December on Orion's first spaceflight. A special test version of Orion was dropped at the Yuma Army proving grounds in Arizona to test the parachute system.

What is Orion? Orion Flight Test Loaded with almost 1, sensors, Orion completed a two-orbit, 4. Building on History NASA is using new technology and lessons learned from earlier missions to build the new spacecraft. Yet again, the entire crew — this time featuring the highly publicized first Israeli astronaut, Ilan Ramon — was killed. Although the technical cause of the Columbia disaster was very different than what led to the loss of Challenger , the investigation again found deep cultural problems at NASA.

The crew of STS, seen here, had their flight aboard Space Shuttle Columbia delayed 18 times before launching in While reentering Earth's atmosphere, Columbia broke apart, killing the entire crew. All of these factors — high costs, slow turnaround, few customers, and a vehicle and agency that had major safety problems — combined to make the Bush administration realize it was time for the Space Shuttle Program to retire.

In , President Bush gave a speech that outlined the end of the shuttle era, without clearly identifying what would come next or how much it would cost. This decision left NASA in limbo, as they were suddenly dependent on the Russians for access to space. The remaining three space shuttles, Discovery , Endeavour , and Atlantis , are now museum pieces, as is the test orbiter Enterprise. Having seen some of these vessels in person, I can attest that they still are breathtaking sights to behold.

With SpaceX already launching humans into space, and with other commercial space ventures making rapid progress, the future of manned spaceflight under NASA seems unclear.

Receive news, sky-event information, observing tips, and more from Astronomy's weekly email newsletter. View our Privacy Policy. By signing up you may also receive reader surveys and occasional special offers. We do not sell, rent or trade our email lists. Login or Register Customer Service. RISE —. PHASE —. Tonight's Sky — Change location. US state, Canadian province, or country. Tonight's Sky — Select location. According to a statement from NASA , these actions included 21 recommendations regarding testing and simulation for the craft, including better testing for software and hardware; 10 recommendations covering software requirements; 35 recommendations regarding modifications to process and operations like test data reviews, peer reviews and increasing the involvement of subject matter experts; 7 recommendations about software updates and changes; and 7 recommendations regarding knowledge capture and hardware modification, for example, they made organizational recommendations to change the safety reporting structure.

With 80 "corrective actions" needing to be addressed following the off-nominal OFT-1 test flight, Boeing planned to launch a second uncrewed test flight before it began launching crews to space. This second uncrewed test mission, dubbed Orbital Flight Test-2 OFT-2 , was additionally delayed a number of times with the current launch set for p. Leading up to the launch, the mission control teams will continue to conduct simulated mission dress rehearsals for the uncrewed flight.

During OFT-2, Starliner will autonomously dock with the space station using a vision-based navigation system, delivering about lbs. The craft is set to spend between 5 and 10 days in orbit before undocking from the station and coming back to Earth.

Again, using its airbag system, Starliner will touch down on land in the western U. This article was originally written by Live Space. Email Chelsea Gohd at cgohd space. Follow us on Twitter Spacedotcom and on Facebook.