Spaceflight Gap

John Holdren, President Obama's science advisor, said in an interview with SpaceInsider, a blog of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, that Mr. Obama fully intends to retire the space shuttle next year, and that there will be "at least" a five year gap in NASA manned spaceflight. Several in Congress, however, are looking for ways to close that gap.

Holdren also speculated that astronauts could possibly fly to ISS aboard Chinese capsules during that gap, as well as aboard Russian Soyuz capsules.

The Chinese speculation opens some interesting questions. The Soyuz has been flying for decades; it's as close to a reliable spacecraft as we've ever had, China, on the other hand, has a grand total of three manned spaceflights under its belt. If NASA is ready to risk astronaut lives on China's short experience, why not work with private American companies to develop private man-rated spacecraft? SpaceX is already working on Dragon, Interorbital is developing Neptune, and there are others. Not only might such projects narrow the gap, but the U. S. could reach the end of the gap with both a vibrant new NASA manned spaceflight program, and a robust, still developing private manned spaceflight capability.