Humans in Space - What Next?

The last time NASA launched a human into space was July 2011, the final launch of the Space Shuttle. What's next?

Humans are still in space, of course. Two Chinese astronauts spent a month in space last fall (link), and the International Space Station (ISS) has been continuously crewed since 2000. The Space Shuttle was instrumental in building the ISS, but crews are now transported to and from the ISS solely via Russian Soyuz rockets.

NASA is currently developing the Space Launch System (SLS) (Wikipedia, NASA) which will reuse concepts from the Space Shuttle. Like the Space Shuttle, it will have solid rocket fuel boosters and the first stage will be similar to the external fuel tank on the shuttle. Unlike the Space Shuttle, it will eventually have a second stage and the payload will not be a winged craft that returns to Earth like an airplane.

Every Space Shuttle launch included crew. The SLS will be capable of launching both crewed and uncrewed payloads. For crewed missions, NASA is developing the Orion spacecraft (Wikipedia, NASA). Orion is similar to Apollo but will hold up to six astronauts.

The first uncrewed launch of the SLS is presently scheduled for late 2018. The first crewed launch is not likely to occur before 2021. The SLS will have a launch capacity similar to the Saturn V, and NASA believes that it puts it on a path to launch crewed missions to Mars in the 2030s.

The image above shows the main elements of NASA's Space Launch System.

In addition to national space programs, several private companies are also developing crewed spaceflight capabilities.

SpaceX has had more than 30 successful space launches, including nine resupply missions to the ISS. From the company website: "SpaceX designs, manufactures and launches advanced rockets and spacecraft. The company was founded in 2002 to revolutionize space technology, with the ultimate goal of enabling people to live on other planets." All missions to date have been uncrewed, but SpaceX is developing the capability to send crews to the ISS. Crewed missions will be launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. SpaceX was founded by Elon Musk (PayPal, Tesla, SolarCity) and is privately owned.

Blue Origin is developing reusable rockets with the goal of "millions of people living and working in space." They have had several successful uncrewed suborbital launches, and are planning crewed suborbital launches, particularly for space tourists, beginning in 2017 or 2018. To date their launches have been from Texas, but they recently announced plans to launch orbital missions from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, adjacent to the Kennedy Space Center. Blue Origin was founded by Jeff Bezos (Amazon, Washington Post) and is privately owned.

Virgin Galactic is also developing suborbital launch capabilities for space tourists with the goal of being the "the world's first spaceline." The Ansari X Prize was a private $10 million prize created in 1996 for the first non-governmental organization to successfully launch a reusable crewed suborbital spacecraft twice within two weeks. The prize was won in 2004 by SpaceShipOne designed by Burt Rutan and funded by Paul Allen (Microsoft). Virgin Galactic licensed their technology and started development of a second-generation spacecraft for commercial ventures: SpaceShipTwo. Virgin Galactic is part of the Virgin Group, a United Kingdom conglomerate founded by Sir Richard Branson.

For reference, two non-governmental organizations in the U.S. that are important for developing uncrewed space missions are United Launch Alliance and Orbital ATK.