NASAÂ has recently published a roadmap detailing space exploration objectives, Space Policy Online reported Monday.The 21-page “NASA Space Exploration Campaign Report” provides updated mission plans, which include: shifting U.S. human flight in low-Earth orbit to commercial operations; developing a cislunar and beyond cislunar habitat; uncovering lunar resources through autonomous instrument explorations; and holding expeditions to the moon and Mars.
NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said at a Washington Space Roundtable on Monday that SpaceX and Boeing will be able to send astronauts to NASA’s International Space Station by 2019.
A proposal in President Trump’s fiscal year 2019 budget request ceases funding allocation for the ISS in 2025, prompting NASA to encourage commercial space operations so that space crews can have ongoing access to LEO platforms.
Additional goals outlined in the NASA report include: the creation of human lunar surface architecture to propel U.S. astronauts on the lunar surface by 2029; and the modification of a Mars-centric research and development portfolio by 2021.
