The Astronaut Question How long will humans remain better than
robots at exploration? - By James R. Chiles - Air & Space
magazine, September 2012 For 50 years, the heart of the American
space program has been manned flight. When the space shuttle
program ended, it was a historic moment that triggered a wave of
commentaries and interviews on the “man in space” theme. Former
astronauts like Neil Armstrong and NASA veterans like
Christopher Kraft Jr. complained that by shelving the shuttle
before a NASA-operated manned spacecraft was on hand to service
the International Space Station, America had fallen down on the
job. “Man in Space”? How about “Robot in Space”? In spaceflight,
robots are on the rise. When it comes to post-shuttle missions
carrying humans to orbit, machines do most of the flying, and
increasingly, all of it. Presently, the only spacecraft that
ISS-bound astronauts can travel in are the Russians’ Soyuz
capsules, and those flights are entirely controlled by the
digital Kurs system, which employs