Fiddling with NASA 's future--Back to Apollo Concept--Reusables out

(Launchspace Staff)

In a recent interview at the White House, President Obama addressed NASA’s future. He said, “I am hugely committed to manned space flight but I want to make sure that we’re doing it right and that we aren’t wasting taxpayer money.”  

In the meantime, thousands of jobs related to the Space Shuttle Program have been lost. NASA’s manned space program is transitioning to the use of the Orion capsule and a new heavy launcher project, SLS, for human exploration beyond low earth orbit (LEO).

“What we’ve said with NASA is that we need to re-tool, to take that next big leap forward in space. The shuttle program had a wonderful run but the truth of the matter is that the next phase, including the Orion project, was way behind schedule and didn’t seem to be meeting its budget objectives,” the President also said. “So what we’ve done is to try to say let’s take a step back, let’s figure out how do we re-tool.”  

Every indication is NASA is going to be successful in taking a step back, a giant step backward. It appears that reusable launch concepts are out and expendables are back in. NASA apparently is going to spend its money on large, expensive launch systems that are used once and thrown away, while encouraging the private sector to be the space innovators. At the moment, companies like SpaceX and Orbital are preparing commercial resupply options for the ISS. So, human space flight beyond LEO appears to remain with NASA. It has been almost 40 years since the last astronaut left the moon, and it is going to several more years before NASA can send anyone else in that direction again.  

While the President fiddles with NASA’s future, on November 11 the remaining assets of Rocketplane Kistler, Inc. will be auctioned to the highest bidder. Walter Kistler had a vision for a reusable single-stage-to-orbit launch system and started a privately-funded company in the early 1990s. Over the next several years the design evolved into a fully reusable two-stage-to-orbit vehicle and he raised roughly half a billion dollars to fund the development. Unfortunately, at the beginning of the new century, the promised market for reusable launches was evaporating and Kistler Aerospace ran out of money before completing the first flight version of his K-1 vehicle. Several financial battles took place and Kistler’s company was finally sold to Rocketplane in an attempt to win a NASA Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) contract. They won a contract but could not perform as required. NASA cancelled the contract and the fate of Kistler’s dream was sealed.  

Kistler’s story is noteworthy because his design was the closest one to becoming reality. But, “close” does not count, except in horseshoes and hand grenades.