NASA's Office of Advanced Research & Technology and the Emergence of the Space Station
- Paper number
IAC-08.E4.1.5
- Author
Mr. John Mankins, United States
- Year
2008
- Abstract
During 2008-2009, the assembly of the International Space Station (ISS) is nearing its completion in low Earth orbit. The value and the cost of this remarkable capability have been discussed at length during the more than two decades since the beginnings of the program as “Space Station Freedom”. Over the years, a diverse set of detailed design decisions and program changes have occurred—some the result of internal engineering management processes, others driven by national and international challenges and opportunities. However, at the foundations of this immense international endeavor one finds a series of studies, technology developments and demonstrations that were undertaken by the NASA organization that was originally named the “Office of Advanced Research and Technology” (OART; later the “Office of Aeronautics and Space Technology). Some of these technology developments were fully successful and are reflected in system elements that are in orbit today; other then-promising technologies ultimately did not survive the circuitous path that led to the ISS of today. This story: the origins of the technologies that make up the Space Station—as well as the paths not taken—and the role of the NASA’s OART in these developments represents an important part of the history of our current capabilities for human space flight and the foundations for its future. This paper will review the role of the OART (and the several OART-managed NASA Field Centers) in the emergence of concepts for, and technologies to implement the Space Station. The overall trajectory for this emergence will be discussed, beginning in the 1960s and following the path of selected key technologies as examples through to the critical decisions that were made in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The paper will conclude by offering some “lessons learned”, and will suggest how these lessons might inform ongoing decisions concerning advanced research and technology for future human space flight programs.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
IAC-08.E4.1.5.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).
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