The Shackleton Crater Expedition: A Lunar Commerce Mission in the Spirit of Lewis and Clark by William C. Stone, Ph.D., P.E. Stone AeroSPACE / PSC, Inc. 18912 Glendower Road Gaithersburg, MD 20879-1833 Ph: (301) 216-0932 evening / (301) 975-6075 day Email:
[email protected] November 2003 StoneAeroSPACE / PSC, Inc., 18912 Glendower Road, Gaithersburg, MD 20879 V31 11-05-2003 Shackleton Crater Expedition Executive Summary The space program of the United States of America is in disarray. During the past 30 years it has failed to deliver what the American public most wants from it: routine, economical access to space that enables broad private sector involvement and the establishment of a burgeoning extraterrestrial economy. The agency charged with this task, NASA, has instead woven an intricate partnership with its Cold War era subcontractors that has sought to maintain its Apollo legacy through a series of costly mega-projects lasting decades. These projects – the space shuttle and the International Space Station (ISS) – have failed. The shuttle remains an inherently dangerous vehicle for human space operations (and will remain so even following upgrades as a result of the Columbia investigation commission). But more importantly, the shuttle is non- competitive with alternative – particularly Russian – means for transporting goods to low earth orbit. The ISS, after 25 years of effort, remains incomplete and is presently capable of supporting just three individuals in orbit. Both programs cost the nation billions of dollars every year, yet produce no tangible forward progress towards the creation of an environment in which private sector space opportunities can flourish – and thus dramatically expand human presence off Earth.