The Ride Report is the informal name of the report titled ''NASA Leadership and America's Future in Space: A Report to the Administrator''. In 1986, a task force under the leadership of

Sally Ride Sally Kristen Ride (May 26, 1951 – July 23, 2012) was an American astronaut and physicist. Born in Los Angeles, she joined NASA in 1978, and in 1983 became the first American woman and the third woman to fly in space, after cosmonauts ...

was asked to formulate a new strategy for

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil List of government space agencies, space program ...

. The report was issued in 1987. The Ride Report proposed four main initiatives for study and evaluation. These were: # Mission to Planet Earth # Exploration of the Solar System # Outpost on the Moon # Humans to Mars "Mission to Planet Earth" would be centred on the observation of our home planet. New technologies for observation would be needed, and launch capabilities for geostationary and

polar orbit A polar orbit is one in which a satellite passes above or nearly above both poles of the body being orbited (usually a planet such as the Earth, but possibly another body such as the Moon or Sun) on each revolution. It has an inclination of about ...

s. The space station that was under planning at the time this report was issued, is called simply "the Space Station" and is more ambitious than the current

ISS The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA (J ...

, in that it would be well-developed enough to have ability for assembly of satellites and platforms in orbit. A transfer vehicle to launch these into geostationary orbit is proposed as well. In the section "Exploration of the Solar System", the report points out that there are too few

planetary exploration This is a timeline of Solar System exploration ordered by date of spacecraft launch. It includes: *All spacecraft that have left Earth orbit for the purposes of Discovery and exploration of the Solar System, Solar System exploration (or were la ...

missions planned. It proposes some new missions, such as a cometary mission, an extended Cassini mission (including three probes; one for the study of the atmosphere of Saturn, one atmospheric Titan probe and one to land on Titan) and a

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Roman god of war. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin at ...

sample return mission. A permanent lunar outpost is discussed in "Outpost on the Moon". This goal would be reached through three phases, where the first would deal with

robotic exploration Unmanned spacecraft or uncrewed spacecraft are spacecraft without people on board, used for robotic spaceflight. Uncrewed spacecraft may have varying levels of autonomy from human input; they may be remote controlled, remote guided or eve ...

during the 1990s to find a suitable site. In the second phase, astronauts would be launched to the Moon on a Lunar transfer vehicle from the Space Station. They would bring scientific instruments and equipment and modules for the outpost. In the third phase, the outpost would be a permanent installation, with closed-loop life-support systems, and great abilities for

exploration of the Moon The physical exploration of the Moon began when ''Luna 2'', a space probe launched by the Soviet Union, made an impact on the surface of the Moon on September 14, 1959. Prior to that the only available means of exploration had been observation ...

. According to the plan, there would be a crew of 30 living and working on the Moon by 2010. In "Humans to Mars" the ambitious goal of crewed Mars landings is proposed to happen as soon as 2010. Preparations for these missions include robotic exploration of Mars, with orbiters, rovers and sample return missions. The Space Station was to be used for study of the human body during long space flights. The construction of an outpost on Mars could begin during the 2020s. The Ride Report also recognizes the risks of making the Space Station dependent on one single

launch vehicle A launch vehicle or carrier rocket is a rocket designed to carry a payload ( spacecraft or satellites) from the Earth's surface to outer space. Most launch vehicles operate from a launch pads, supported by a launch control center and ...

- the

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program ...

. It proposes the development of a shuttle-derived cargo launcher, as a way of diversifying the launch fleet.

External links

* NASA History Offic
NASA Leadership and America's Future in Space: A Report to the Administrator
* Encyclopedia Astronautic

{{NASA navbox Reports of the United States government NASA oversight 1987 in the United States Human missions to Mars

See also

External links