Dennis Anthony Tito is an American engineer and entrepreneur. In mid-2001,he became the first space tourist to fund his own trip into space,when he spent nearly eight days in orbit as a crew member of ISS EP-1,a visiting mission to the International Space Station. This mission was launched by the spacecraft Soyuz TM-32,and was landed by Soyuz TM-31.
Charles Frank Bolden Jr. is a former Administrator of NASA,a retired United States Marine Corps Major General,and a former astronaut who flew on four Space Shuttle missions.
The Vision for Space Exploration (VSE) was a plan for space exploration announced on January 14,2004 by President George W. Bush. It was conceived as a response to the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster,the state of human spaceflight at NASA,and as a way to regain public enthusiasm for space exploration.
Michael Douglas Griffin is an American physicist and aerospace engineer who served as the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering from 2018 to 2020. He previously served as Deputy of Technology for the Strategic Defense Initiative,and as Administrator of NASA from April 13,2005,to January 20,2009. As NASA Administrator Griffin oversaw such areas as private spaceflight,future human spaceflight to Mars,and the fate of the Hubble telescope.
Shuttle-derived vehicles (SDV) are space launch vehicles and spacecraft that use components,technology,and infrastructure originally developed for the Space Shuttle program.
The administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the highest-ranking official of NASA,the national space agency of the United States. The administrator is NASA's chief decision maker,responsible for providing clarity to the agency's vision and serving as a source of internal leadership within NASA. The office holder also has an important place within United States space policy,and is assisted by a deputy administrator.
The NASA Authorization Act of 2005 is an act of the United States Congress that requires NASA to carry out a balanced set of programs in human spaceflight,in aeronautics research and development and in scientific research. It was signed by the then President George W. Bush and became Public Law 109-155 on December 30,2005.
George Edwin Mueller,was an American electrical engineer who was an associate administrator at NASA,heading the Office of Manned Space Flight from September 1963 until December 1969. Hailed as one of NASA's "most brilliant and fearless managers",he was instrumental in introducing the all-up testing philosophy for the Saturn V launch vehicle,which ensured the success of the Apollo program in landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth by the end of 1969. Mueller also played a key part in the design of Skylab,and championed the Space Shuttle's development,which earned him the nickname,"the father of the Space Shuttle."
The Space Exploration Initiative was a 1989–1993 space public policy initiative of the George H. W. Bush administration.
The NASA Decadal Planning Team (DPT) and its successor,the NASA Exploration Team (NExT),were influential behind-the-scenes efforts to develop a major new direction for the space agency early in the 21st Century.
Daniel R. Mulville is an American engineer who served briefly as Acting Administrator of NASA in 2001.
Anthony Spear is an American space exploration project manager most notable for leading the Mars Pathfinder mission for JPL/NASA in 1996. He retired from JPL in 1998. He competed for the Google Lunar X Prize with Red Whittaker,Astrobotic,and Carnegie Mellon University,where he received a B.S. degree in electrical engineering in 1962.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government responsible for the civil space program,aeronautics research,and space research. Established in 1958,NASA succeeded the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) to give the U.S. space development effort a distinctly civilian orientation,emphasizing peaceful applications in space science. NASA has since led most American space exploration,including Project Mercury,Project Gemini,the 1968–1972 Apollo Moon landing missions,the Skylab space station,and the Space Shuttle. NASA currently supports the International Space Station and oversees the development of the Orion spacecraft and the Space Launch System for the crewed lunar Artemis program,the Commercial Crew spacecraft,and the planned Lunar Gateway space station.
The National Space Council is a body within the Executive Office of the President of the United States created in 1989 during the George H. W. Bush administration,disbanded in 1993,and reestablished in June 2017 by the Donald Trump administration. It is a modified version of the earlier National Aeronautics and Space Council (1958–1973).
Scott Norman Pace currently serves as Director of the Space Policy Institute,Director of the Institute for International Science and Technology Policy and Director of the MA International Science and Technology Policy program at the George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs. He served as the Executive Secretary of the National Space Council from July 2017 to January 2021,when he resigned. Pace was formerly the Director of the Space Policy Institute at the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University,where he was also a Professor of the Practice of International Affairs.
The National Launch System was a study authorized in 1991 by President George H. W. Bush to outline alternatives to the Space Shuttle for access to Earth orbit. Shortly thereafter,NASA asked Lockheed Missiles and Space,McDonnell Douglas,and TRW to perform a ten-month study.
The space policy of the United States includes both the making of space policy through the legislative process,and the implementation of that policy in the United States' civilian and military space programs through regulatory agencies. The early history of United States space policy is linked to the US–Soviet Space Race of the 1960s,which gave way to the Space Shuttle program. At the moment,the US space policy is aimed at the exploration of the Moon and the subsequent colonization of Mars.
Keith Cowing is an American astrobiologist,former NASA employee,and the editor of the American space program blog NASA Watch. He is a credentialed NASA journalist and is known to be a critic of NASA activities and policies.
The Planetary Missions Program Office is a division of NASA headquartered at the Marshall Space Flight Center,formed by the agency's Science Mission Directorate (SMD). Succeeding the Discovery and New Frontiers Program Office,it was established in 2014 to manage the Discovery and New Frontiers programs of low and medium-cost missions by third-party institutions,and the Solar System Exploration program of NASA-led missions that focus on prioritized planetary science objectives. The Discovery and New Frontiers programs were established in 1992 and 2001 respectively,and have launched fourteen primary missions together,along with two missions launched under the administration of the Planetary Missions Program Office. The Solar System Exploration Program was established alongside the office,with three missions planned for launch under the new program.
Space Park is an aerospace engineering campus occupying over 100 acres in Redondo Beach,California since 1961,expanding in 1968 to a nearly adjacent 90 acres in Manhattan Beach.
