posted 05-28-2004 07:57 PM               

It's whimsical I know, but what would anyone expect to read about in space exploration when opening collectSPACE on this date in 2014? Will the shuttle have been retired? Will there be a firm commitment for the human exploration of other celestial bodies? Will the ISS still be in use?

posted 05-29-2004 02:21 AM               

The Soyuz will be operated out of Kourou.

Europeans are discussing (!) a flight to Mars.

Chinese and Indians are building their first space station in LEO.

posted 05-29-2004 11:33 AM               

Space Station will be in a stage which is called complete. The United States will still be involved, though less so than the Russian and European Space Agencies.

Unmanned tests of CEV will be complete, and manned tests will be nearing, though possibly on the in the same way that manned tests of Shuttle were nearing in '78 or so, when Shuttle was so close to being finished, and yet, not.

The Chinese space program, having completed fewer than 10 manned spaceflights, is still working towards launching a space station, which will be of an early-generation Salyut type.

The European Space Agency will be in the midst of its robotic Martian sample return mission, and still struggling with whether its backburner efforts to develop a manned spacecraft are really worth it.

While still U.S. led, the planetary exploration initiative is now a true international program, with substantial involvement by ESA, JAXA, and RSA.

The astronaut members of Group 19 still have not flown. Nor have the members of the small Group 20, which features educators and scientists chosen for specialties relevant to planetary exploration, i.e. geology and medical.

Paid suborbital flights are relatively commonplace, and prviate manned test flights into LEO have either been undertaken or soon will. The X Prize cup is the most amazing sporting competition on and off Earth, but the public doesn't care.

Unmanned exploration no longer captures the public interest the way the MER probes did in 2004. Lunar rovers are dull to a public which has been promised men on the Moon, and Martian missions also have a been-there-done-that quality about them. While a sample return mission is cool, it doesn't produce the pictures and video that grab the public.

posted 05-29-2004 08:27 PM               

In a world still beset by wanton acts of terrorism, the new U.S. President decides to undertake a bold initiative of hope for mankind by pledging America to placing an international crew on Mars within five years. Congress kills it off with cuts.

91-year-old Wally Schirra goes into space again on a privately-funded suborbital flight, and cracks jokes in the media about beating "that kid" John Glenn as the oldest person to fly.

Valentina Tereshkova finally admits she was ill in space during her Vostok-6 mission.

Ed Givens's name finally placed on the Astronauts Memorial Mirror.

A full replica of a Mercury capsule, launched into orbit several months earlier to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the end of Project Mercury, sets out on a nationwide tour together with its sole pilot - the grandchild of a Mercury astronaut.

posted 05-30-2004 05:14 AM               

The recovered hatch of Liberty Bell 7 is for sale on eBay, and as a bonus has been signed by the crew of Soyuz 11.

All of the moon has finally been sold in one-metre squares to speculators holding certificates on Earth.

In "Rocky 12," Sylvester Stallone fights Mike Tyson in one-sixth gravity on the moon.

John Young releases best-selling book called "Signing Autographs for Fun and Profit."

posted 05-30-2004 10:18 AM               

Most of the current astronaut corps will have resigned in disgust at the decision by Congress to scrap the CEV and storm the place and burn it to the ground.

posted 05-30-2004 11:23 AM               

The European Space Agency send a manned mission to the Moon to check out equipment and long-duration habitats on the lunar surface for a future Mars-mission in 2020...

A Japanese artists plans to go to Mars to plant Red Roses on the Martian South Pole...

posted 06-03-2004 12:10 PM               

• NASA never returned to flight. Most active astronauts laid off in 2011, with the exception of 20 or so test pilots for the completion of the next generation of vehicle.

• ISS never completed and abandoned in place in 2009; Russian-U.S. team attempts to boost ISS back into higher orbit, but lose stability on the platform, ISS dumped into the Pacific in 2010.

• Ten years of Democratic administrations and congressional control largely caused the end of NASA as the federal government shifted funding prioritiesght.

• Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins make a joint appearance in 2009 for the 40th anniversary of the Apollo XI landing. Each man in turn is openly critical of the government's abject failure to support NASA over the previous ten years and the continuing decline of education in the areas of science and math.

• Private orbital flights continue, but at a low level due to several rather spectacular and fatal launches.