Friday NASA released its crew assignment for the last scheduled space shuttle mission. The twelfth Chief of the Astronaut Office Steven Lindsey will be leading the crew of six astronauts on the Space Shuttle Discovery piloted by Eric Boe for mission STS-133. Two of the crew members assigned to serve as mission specialists for this mission, Nicole Stott and Michael Barratt, are currently on the International Space Station on it first long term six person crew. Filling out the crew as mission specialists are Benjamin Drew and Timothy Kopra.Beyond this mission there is a lot of uncertainty as to what the future holds for manned space flight. A timetable for replacing the space shuttle with either a NASA craft or commercial alternative is still indeterminate, and there is talk of deorbiting the International Space Station as soon as 2016. It is a shame that the station would be discarded after such a short lifespan, the current crew is its first six person complement. Still there is talk that Russia may keep the modules it contributed in space for use in a future Russian space station.
Then there is the possibility that the Space Shuttles with be kept in service for a few more years. Space flight is an endeavor typically characterized by small margins for error, extensive planning, and the unknown. At this point in history it seems that the unknown, of the economic and political variety, is the dominant factor lingering over manned space flight in the United States.
