Download or read book Stepping-Stones to the Future of Space Exploration written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2004-05-27 with total page 75 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NASA's Human Exploration and Development of Space (HEDS) program within the Office of Space Flight has proposed a new framework for space technology and systems developmentâ€"Advanced Systems, Technology, Research, and Analysis (ASTRA) for future space flight capabilities. To assist in the development of this framework, NASA asked the National Research Council to convene a series of workshops on technology policy issues concerning the relationship of the various stakeholders in advancing human and robotic exploration and development of space. The first workshop, which is the topic of this report, focused on policy issues about the development and demonstration of space technologies. Four policy topicsâ€"selected by the project steering committee as the foci of this first workshopâ€"are discussed in the report: the rationale for human and robotic space exploration; technology as a driver for capability transformation; risk mitigation and perception; and international cooperation and competition.