Could 2020 mark a new era in US space exploration? Three questions.
The first U.S. astronauts who will fly on commercial spacecraft are, from left, Sunita Williams, Josh Cassada, Eric Boe, Nicole Mann, Christopher Ferguson, Douglas Hurley, Robert Behnken, Michael Hopkins, and Victor Glover, seen here in front of mock-ups of Boeing's CST-100 Starliner and SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsules at the Johnson Space Center in Texas Aug. 3, 2018.
NASA/AP/FILE
If all goes according to plan, 2020 will be the year that American astronauts rocket into space from American soil once again, after a 9-year hiatus. On Sunday, Jan. 19, SpaceX took a leap forward toward achieving that goal. The spaceflight company conducted the final major test of its spacecraft: a demonstration of its launch escape system, designed to help astronauts return safely to Earth if something goes awry during launch.
NASA astronauts have had a continuous presence on the International Space Station. However, since the space shuttle program ended in 2011, the only route to space has been to purchase a ticket aboard Russian spacecraft.
Both SpaceX and Boeing are putting space capsules and rockets through final tests, aiming to put humans on board before the end of the year. If they’re successful, it would not only return human spaceflight to the United States, but would open the door to expanding the human presence in space.
Why We Wrote This
With a return to an entirely American system for human spaceflight, 2020 may be a defining year in space exploration. Here’s what that might look like, and what it means for human presence in space.
“We are going into a new era,” says Christie Cox, utilization and commercial use manager for the International Space Station Division at NASA headquarters. “It has all of us pretty excited.”
Who’s who in spaceflight these days?
With names like SpaceX, Boeing, Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic, and NASA all cropping up in human spaceflight headlines, it’s difficult to keep track of who is doing what.
Traditionally, NASA has hired a contractor to build spacecraft and rockets that the space agency would operate. But that’s shifting. Instead, through NASA’s Commercial Crew program, the government will purchase seats for its astronauts on privately operated crew vehicles.
Private aerospace companies SpaceX and Boeing both have agreements with NASA to transport astronauts to the International Space Station – as soon as they’ve proved their systems are safe enough.
On January 19, SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule passed its final major test before crewed flight: the in-flight abort test. That sets the company on track for a crewed test flight of the Dragon capsule in the first half of this year.
Boeing is hot on SpaceX’s heels with its CST-100 Starliner capsule. The Starliner took its first uncrewed test flight into space and back in December 2019 (which SpaceX completed in March 2019). However, it may have to repeat the test, as the Starliner did not make it to the ISS due to a computer glitch.
What about me? Can I go to space, too?
Virgin Galactic already has a waitlist for $250,000 tickets to take a 90-minute ride to suborbital space about 62 miles above sea level, where passengers would see the curvature of Earth and then experience weightlessness on the return.
There have been some bumps in the road, including fatalities, but Virgin Galactic aims to launch its first commercial crewed flight this year. A top priority for 2020, the company has said, is to send founder Richard Branson into space to celebrate his 70th year on Earth.
Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin has also set its sights on suborbital space tourism. The company has not sold any tickets yet, and has yet to perform any crewed test flights.
Even NASA is loosening the reins on who can go into space. In June 2019, the space agency announced that it would open the International Space Station for some commercial research and development, which would include the possibility for private astronauts to spend up to 30 days there as early as 2020.
Are we actually going to the moon ... and beyond?
NASA is currently laying the groundwork for human presence in low-Earth orbit to become more of a commercial domain, to pave the way for the space agency to focus its resources beyond.
The last time people set foot on the moon was during the Apollo 17 mission in 1972. NASA has long eyed a return to the moon, with plans to establish a base there to support interplanetary travel and commercial activities. In 2019, to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing, NASA set a goal of landing humans back on the moon in 2024 in a program dubbed Artemis.
NASA’s Space Launch System – which is designed to launch the Orion crew capsule to the moon – will be put through some major tests in 2020. If there are no major snafus, the space agency will stay on track for the 2024 launch.