Next year will mark the fortieth anniversary of man first setting foot on the Moon. Back in the early 1970s it was all systems go for human exploration of space but somehow the momentum was lost, and other priorities took over. Just maintaining an orbital presence above the Earth has been full of challenges with Space Shuttle failures and delays to the International Space Station.
So when U.S. President George W. Bush announced a new Vision for Space Exploration in January 2004, many thought it a political stunt. Under the new plan, NASA would retire the Space Shuttle by 2010 and build a Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) no later than 2014, with a grand plan to return to the Moon by 2020.
But there was something missing, something not quite right–an uneasy feeling that leaving a four-year gap in America’s human access to space capability was a retrograde step, even if international partners could help out.
