Next stop: Mars and beyond

NASA wants to replace the fleet of space shuttles in the next 10 years with two orbital spacecrafts: one for carrying astronauts, another to ferry cargo. The concept is not new, however, and several US lawmakers are critical of what they see as lack of vision in the US space agency.

If despite their financial difficulties the Russians have been able to provide a minimum service to the international space station after the Columbia tragedy by means of the Soyuz space craft, the Chinese also harbour major space ambitions for the 21st century.

At the centenary celebration of the first Wright Brothers’ flight here on December 17, President George W. Bush may announce his new space policy, including the possible resumption of flights to the moon.

‘‘We are wandering round and round in circles at the edge of this new ocean, going nowhere and doing nothing of importance,’’ complained Space Frontier Foundation founder Rick Tumlinson.

The Association of Space Enthusiasts, one of NASA’s most vehement critics, has been pushing for a resumption of moon flights, as well as a manned flight to mars and interstellar space. NASA, on its part, launched six months ago a research programme on nuclear powered space travel that aims to shorten the length of the voyage itself and open new horizons to astronauts.