Roger D. LauniusNational Air and Space Museum
Smithsonian Institution
2
Sixty Years Ago…
Human Earth orbital flights Winged reusable spacecraft Permanently inhabited space station Human lunar exploration Human expeditions to Mars
Fifty Years Ago…
JFK 5-25-1961 Speech-LV-1998-00007.wmv
Forty Years Ago…$25.4 billion cost.Six successful
landings, 1969-1972.Three circumlunar
flights (Apollo 8, 10, 13).
Technological advance pathbreaking.
Scientific return astounding.
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10
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1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972
Public Support for Apollo
Apollo Worth Cost
Approve of Apollo
Spending Too Much on Space
What Do We Do for an Encore?
Space Task Group Report, 1969. Space Shuttle, approved 1972. Space Station, approved 1984. Return to Moon. Mars expedition.
Space Exploration Initiative, July 1989. Back to the Moon, and on to Mars.
Vision for Space Exploration, January 2004. Back to the Moon, on to Mars, and retire Space Shuttle.
Space Exploration in the 21st Century, April 2010. Emphasize ISS, commercial cargo and crew, R&D.
Build a SpaceplaneThirty Years Ago…
Then Build a Space Station…Ten Years Ago…
1990
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1997
1998
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2001
2002
2003
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2010
2011
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1.0
1.2
NASA Budget as a Percentage of Federal Budget,
1990-2011
A Few Great Accomplishments
Tragedies: Challenger 1986 and Columbia 2003
Expectations
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Expectations…A Dual Edged Sword
Where’s My Jetpack?
Historic Drivers for Exploration
GodGoldGlory
Are We on the Verge of 2001: A Space Odyssey?
Might we Incorporate LEO into normal human activities?