History
The crew size for the ISS depends upon the crew return capability: the crew was limited to three because the Russian Soyuz TMA vehicle that will remain docked to the ISS can only hold three people. Now with two docked Soyuz vehicles, the ISS has been crewed with 6 members since May 2009. Since it is imperative that the crew members be able to return to Earth if there is a medical emergency or if other complications arise, a Crew Return Vehicle able to hold up to seven crew members was planned from the outset: this would have allowed the full complement of seven astronauts to live and work on board the ISS. NASA has designed several crew return vehicles over the years with varying levels of detail.
A small, in-house development study of the X-38 concept first began at JSC in early 1995. In early 1996, a contract was awarded to Scaled Composites, Inc., of Mojave, Calif., for the construction of three full-scale atmospheric test airframes. The first vehicle airframe was delivered to JSC in September 1996.
Read more about this topic: NASA X-38
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“The history of reform is always identical; it is the comparison of the idea with the fact. Our modes of living are not agreeable to our imagination. We suspect they are unworthy. We arraign our daily employments.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“What has history to do with me? Mine is the first and only world! I want to report how I find the world. What others have told me about the world is a very small and incidental part of my experience. I have to judge the world, to measure things.”
—Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951)
“In nature, all is useful, all is beautiful. It is therefore beautiful, because it is alive, moving, reproductive; it is therefore useful, because it is symmetrical and fair. Beauty will not come at the call of a legislature, nor will it repeat in England or America its history in Greece. It will come, as always, unannounced, and spring up between the feet of brave and earnest men.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)