09-14-2011, 12:45 PM
the future 
WASHINGTON — After months of debate, NASA has settled on plans for its next spaceship — a space shuttle hybrid that will fly twice in the next decade and cost $30 billion through 2021, according to senior administration officials and internal NASA documents.
That NASA decided to recycle elements of the shuttle is not unexpected. Last year, Congress and the White House agreed NASA should reuse equipment from old programs and the new design — which includes a giant fuel tank and two booster rockets — largely reflects that compromise. The most noticeable change is the plane-like orbiter will be replaced by an Apollo-like crew capsule atop the tank.
What is surprising — and potentially controversial — is the cost and scope of the new mission, especially since NASA largely is relying on 30-year-old technology to build the new rocket.
As scheduled, NASA will fly an unmanned test flight in 2017 and a crewed mission in 2021. If NASA stays on budget, which is far from certain given NASA's history of cost overruns, each mission would cost about $15 billion apiece, although planned missions after 2021 would reduce that average price tag.
Video: Crowd lifts burning car, saves Motorcycle crash victim
Related NASA documents show there would be a flight every year or two after 2021.
Unknown, however, is the destination. A senior administration official, who was not authorized to speak on the record, said NASA had not picked where it planned to send either the unmanned capsule in 2017 or the crewed capsule in 2021.
Previously, administration sources had hinted the missions would loop around the moon — but not land — but the official said a moon shot was not set in stone.
The only certain goal, said the official, is that NASA still would be committed to meeting President Barack Obama's target of launching a manned mission to an asteroid by 2025.
![[Image: new-nasa-rocket-0914.jpg]](http://www.cfnews13.com/static/articles/images/news2011/new-nasa-rocket-0914.jpg)
WASHINGTON — After months of debate, NASA has settled on plans for its next spaceship — a space shuttle hybrid that will fly twice in the next decade and cost $30 billion through 2021, according to senior administration officials and internal NASA documents.
That NASA decided to recycle elements of the shuttle is not unexpected. Last year, Congress and the White House agreed NASA should reuse equipment from old programs and the new design — which includes a giant fuel tank and two booster rockets — largely reflects that compromise. The most noticeable change is the plane-like orbiter will be replaced by an Apollo-like crew capsule atop the tank.
What is surprising — and potentially controversial — is the cost and scope of the new mission, especially since NASA largely is relying on 30-year-old technology to build the new rocket.
As scheduled, NASA will fly an unmanned test flight in 2017 and a crewed mission in 2021. If NASA stays on budget, which is far from certain given NASA's history of cost overruns, each mission would cost about $15 billion apiece, although planned missions after 2021 would reduce that average price tag.
Video: Crowd lifts burning car, saves Motorcycle crash victim
Related NASA documents show there would be a flight every year or two after 2021.
Unknown, however, is the destination. A senior administration official, who was not authorized to speak on the record, said NASA had not picked where it planned to send either the unmanned capsule in 2017 or the crewed capsule in 2021.
Previously, administration sources had hinted the missions would loop around the moon — but not land — but the official said a moon shot was not set in stone.
The only certain goal, said the official, is that NASA still would be committed to meeting President Barack Obama's target of launching a manned mission to an asteroid by 2025.