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“We will give NASA a new focus and vision for exploration... They [Meriwether Lewis and William Clark] made that journey in the spirit of discovery, to learn the potential of vast new territory, and to chart a way for others to follow... America has ventured forth into space for the same reasons... In the past 30 years, no human being has set forth on another world, or ventured farther upward into space than 386 miles... America has not developed a new vehicle to advance human exploration in space in nearly a quarter century. It is time for America to take the next steps. Today I announce a new plan to explore space and extend a human presence across this solar system... Our first goal is to complete the International Space Station by 2010... Our second goal is to develop and test a new spacecraft, the Crew Exploration Vehicle, by 2008, and to conduct the first manned flight no later than 2014... But the main purpose of this spacecraft will be to carry astronauts beyond our orbit to other worlds... Our third goal is to return to the moon by 2020... Eugene Cernan, who is with us today – the last man to set foot on the lunar surface – said this as he left: 'We leave as we came, and God willing as we shall return, with peace and hope for all mankind.' America will make these words come true... With the experience and knowledge gained on the moon, we will then be ready to take the next steps of space exploration: human missions to Mars and worlds beyond... We do not know where this journey will end, yet we know this: human beings are heading to the cosmos... As one family member said, 'The legacy of Columbia must carry on – for the benefit of our children and yours.' The Columbia crew did not turn away from this challenge and neither will we. Mankind is drawn to the heavens for the same reason we were once drawn into unknown lands and across the open sea. We choose to explore space because doing so improves our lives, and lifts our national spirit. So let us continue the journey.”-President Bush's Announcement of a Vision for Space Exploration, 1/14/04
On February 1st, 2003, the Space Shuttle Program would be struck with a blow like it had faced nearly seventeen years prior. The Space Shuttle Columbia would find itself destroyed in the skies above Texas, breaking up in re-entry. As news would find itself spreading of the disaster, NASA would mobilize itself to deal with the disaster and the loss of the shuttle and her crew. Two of the immediate steps would be the creation of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB) and the recovery of debris from Columbia. Over the next months, the full investigation would take swing, and the recovery of the flight data recorder (which had never been removed after her initial flights) on March 19th, would aid significantly in the work by the CAIB in the determination of the failure and cause. Tests on both the carbon fiber re-entry tiles and the external tank's foam were underway, but it would be noted that the issue of the 'piece' of foam that had been shed could not have come from an installation defect by July. A decision would be made (in part by one of the Board members) to fully fuel an ET tank, defuel it, and then to begin X-Ray tests of it. The full test of the External Tank was expected to take until October to fully culminate, delaying the report from an expected August end-date to one more likely until November. As the report came out on November 12th, 2003, it confirmed that foam from the ET struck the leading edge of the left wing causing the breakup of the Columbia. It underlined significant organizational and cultural issues also present in NASA which had caused the Columbia accident, combined with the issues in the ET forcing work to 'remove' the foam from each other (to prevent it from being layered on top of each other). The last major component outlined proposed rescue plans for Columbia, which involved the usage of Atlantis (on the pad preparing for STS-114) to be able to retrieve the astronauts, while sending Columbia into the Pacific Ocean; it outlined proposed rescue procedures to be handled by NASA in the event of a similar disaster to allow damage to be checked, crew rescue and the possible 'rescue' of a shuttle.
The announcement of the Vision for Space Exploration (VSE) by President Bush on January 14th, 2004, would give NASA a new goal and mission to be faced after the Space Shuttle Program. This had interfered with proposals by NASA to keep the Space Shuttle running up until 2020 (which had been believed prior to the Columbia disaster) and to create a second-generation human reusable vehicle similar to the Space Shuttle. The deadline of 2010 for the Space Shuttle ordained by President Bush had sent outrages throughout NASA, seeing as even if a new crewed vehicle and rocket started at that moment, there would still be a significant period of no available human spaceflights by NASA. Per the announcement by President Bush, Administrator Sean O'Keefe of NASA would make the first steps necessary to comply with the VSE by creating the Office of Exploration Systems (OES). Rear Admiral Craig E. Steidle (ret.) would be chosen by the Administrator to act as the associate administrator of the new OES. The OES was intended to manage the new programs, guidelines, and other components of the VSE, which would start off with the primary launcher requirement for the new 'lunar' agenda. The OES had outlined two primary plans to be acknowledged for the launcher capacity, with the first plan being an EELV-focused launch plan to assemble the stacks in orbit, and the second being one more dedicated for heavy lift using a shuttle-based architecture. Neither plan would be determined with the bids to determine which plan to follow for the Crew Exploration Vehicle.
The Crew Exploration Vehicle was the first vehicle to be designed from the Office of Exploration Systems, as the eventual replacement for the Space Shuttle. The clarification of the Vision for Space Exploration had set the two main deadlines for the CEV, a prototype by 2008, and the manned first flight by 2014. As such, Administrator O'Keefe would 'borrow' a concept from the United States Air Force for the determination of the winner of the competition. The concept, called the 'Flight Applications of Spacecraft Technologies' (FAST) was intended to see either a suborbital or orbital fly off between the two selected CEV designs which would secure the intended contract for NASA. The series of steps made for the initial designs would start off on December 9th, 2004 with the Draft Statement of Work being issued, followed by a Draft Request for Proposal on January 21st, 2005, to be concluded with the Request for Proposal on March 1st, 2005. Following that, on June 10th, NASA would announce the two 'consortia' who had proceeded to secure their way into FAST, that being Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman in partnership with Boeing. As part of the consortia who had secured their way, they also had a series of subcontractors to be arranged into 'teams' to design their prototype spacecraft, which would outline primary mission proposal (in terms of EOR, LOR, or Direct Ascent) and the launchers for it. The Lockheed Martin main subcontractors would consist of EADS SPACE Transportation, Honeywell, Orbital Science Corporation, Wyle Laboratories, and United Space Alliance; the Northrop Grumman-Boeing main subcontractors would consist of Alenia Spazio, Aerojet, Hamilton Sundstrand (part of the UTC), Draper Laboratory, and United Space Alliance. Both teams would set to work, with the deadline set for August 31st, 2008.
As the announcements for the Crew Exploration Vehicle were underway, other measures would find themselves occurring within NASA as Administrator Sean O'Keefe would announce his retirement in December of 2004. With the announcement of his retirement, new choices would have to be made in terms of the new Administrator to head NASA in the transition period and it's future. The front-runner would be seen as Lieutenant General Ronald Kadish (ret.), who would be nominated and confirmed by the Senate in mid March of 2005. The nomination of Kadish set forth the new agendas to be faced by NASA for the rest of the decade. It was the start of something entirely new, an agenda which would hopefully move forth.