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 V ...

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 federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

. 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 A geostationary orbit, also referred to as a geosynchronous equatorial orbit''Geostationary orbit'' and ''Geosynchronous (equatorial) orbit'' are used somewhat interchangeably in sources. (GEO), is a circular geosynchronous orbit in altitud ...

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 abo ...

s. The

space station A space station (or orbital station) is a spacecraft which remains orbital spaceflight, in orbit and human spaceflight, hosts humans for extended periods of time. It therefore is an artificial satellite featuring space habitat (facility), habitat ...

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, 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 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 Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant, with an average radius of about 9 times that of Earth. It has an eighth the average density of Earth, but is over 95 tim ...

, one atmospheric

Titan Titan most often refers to: * Titan (moon), the largest moon of Saturn * Titans, a race of deities in Greek mythology Titan or Titans may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional entities Fictional locations * Titan in fiction, fictiona ...

probe and one to land on Titan) and a

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...

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 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 a deliberate impact on the surface of the Moon on 14 September, 1959. Prior to that the only available means of lunar exploration had ...

. 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 is typically a rocket-powered vehicle designed to carry a payload (a crewed spacecraft or satellites) from Earth's surface or lower atmosphere to outer space. The most common form is the ballistic missile-shaped multistage ...

- the

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable launch system, 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. ...

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

References

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 Sally Ride

See also

References

External links