NASA Talk Examines Report on Future of Human Spaceflight

HAMPTON, Va., Sept. 10 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- April 12, 2011 will mark 50 years of human space exploration. As NASA prepares to retire the Shuttle program, the U.S. Human Spaceflight Plans Committee asked the question, "What's next?"

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On Tuesday, Sept. 14, at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Edward Crawley, a committee member will present, "The Augustine Report, Rationale and Retrospective" at 2 p.m. in the Reid Conference Center. The White House and NASA chartered the committee, chaired by Norm Augustine, in the summer of 2009. As a committee member, Crawley had to identify and evaluate options for the future of the human space exploration program.

Media who wish to interview Crawley at a news briefing at NASA Langley at 1:15 p.m., Tuesday should contact Chris Rink at 757-864-6786 or by e-mail at [email protected] by noon on the day of the talk for credentials and entry to the center.

On Tuesday evening, Crawley will present a similar talk for the general public at 7:30 p.m. at the Virginia Air & Space Center in downtown Hampton. The evening presentation is free and no reservations are required.

Crawley, Ford Professor of Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), examined questions related to astronauts leaving low-Earth orbit and exploring the solar system, expansion of human civilization into space, benefits of exploration to the U.S., human safety in space, and resources available to make it all happen.

Crawley will review the goals, decision criteria, options and alternatives defined by the Augustine Committee, and the reasoning behind them.

A professor of aeronautics and astronautics and of engineering systems, Crawley has undergraduate and doctoral degrees in aerospace engineering from MIT. He was chairman of the NASA Technology and Commercialization Advisory Committee, a member of the NASA Advisory Committee, and received a NASA Public Service Medal. In 1993, he was a member of the Presidential Advisory Committee on the Space Station Redesign. He has served on numerous committees of the National Research Council, and recently co-chaired the committee reviewing the NASA Exploration Technology Development Program. He is a member of the Committee on Science, Engineering and Public Policy of the National Academies.

For more information about NASA Langley's Colloquium and Sigma Series Lectures:

http://shemesh.larc.nasa.gov/Lectures/

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SOURCE NASA