Astronautics and Guided flight Section

Extract

During the first dozen years of space flight, from Sputnik to the initial Apollo lunar landing, the costs of space exploration and utilisation were not a major constraining factor. Indeed, the difficulty of initially penetrating beyond the earth's atmosphere and then the rapid extension of this capability to lunar distances (and beyond for unmanned spacecraft) dictated approaches that emphasised the highest performance, lightest weight, and the utmost in reliability that could be attained from the state-of-the-art available. As might be expected, conditions have changed. People are expecting a maturing relationship between the benefits achieved from space flights and the costs to attain them. Fortunately, approaches have been identified and the technology exists to greatly reduce the costs of space activities without degradation of safety or mission success. Of equal importance, we have identified many areas of actual or potential direct benefits from the ability to enter and operate in space which should be further developed. They include global communications, meteorology, earth surveys, materials processing, medicine, as well as the intellectual stimulation of scientific investigation and exploration, and others.