Under the current plan, a crewed SLS mission will follow with EM-2 sometime between 2021 and 2023. Gerstenmaier said, "Our priority is to ensure the safe and effective execution of all our planned exploration missions with the Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System rocket".
"We are not proposing what the outcome of NASA's assessment should be", Patricia Sanders, chairwoman of the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel, said during the meeting. "We will definitely have a [later launch date]".
Gerstenmaier said a gap of three years between an unmanned flight test and a crewed mission is normal as it requires platform preparations at the Kennedy Space Center.
NASA is weighing the risk of adding astronauts to the first flight of its new megarocket, created to eventually send crews to Mars.
NASA officials said they do not feel compelled to fly the test mission with crew aboard, Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA's head of human space flight, told reporters on a conference call.
But NASA's acting administrator Robert Lightfoot asked on February 15 for the space agency to study the feasibility of putting people on board, and the findings of that study are expected in the coming months. "If the benefits warrant assumption of additional risk, we expect NASA to clearly and openly articulate their decision process and rationale". Not only that, but on Thursday, an independent safety panel cautioned that NASA needs a compelling reason to put astronauts on the initial flight, given the risk.
As a starting condition, NASA would maintain the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion stage for the first flight. Carrying memorabilia and toys with no personnel, the capsule zoomed into an orbit of Earth in 2014 after being powered by a Delta IV rocket.
Initiated in 2011 to take the place of the over-budget and behind-schedule Constellation program as a shuttle replacement, the new super rocket SLS is now scheduled to fly its maiden Exploration Mission 1 (EM-1) in late 2018 or early 2019, launching an Orion space capsule on a trajectory that would take it around the moon and back to Earth.
The US space agency is building new deep space capabilities to take humans farther into the solar system than we have ever travelled, and ultimately to Mars.
The Space Launch System, known as SLS, will be the most powerful rocket when it flies.
However, William Hill, NASA's deputy associate administrator for exploration, said sending a crew on EM-1 will broaden possibilities on EM-2.
Mourinho praises Southampton EFL Cup final effort
But last season, a very hard season for the club and for the players, along with the manager, they managed to win a trophy . Last meeting: The teams played on August 19 in the Premier League, with United winning 2-0 on a Zlatan Ibrahimovic brace.
Life expectancy set to hit 90 in South Korea
While the researchers predict that life expectancy is likely to rise across all 35 countries, the size of increase varies. Most impressively, they found that in South Korea, life expectancy in women could jump from 84 in 2010 to 91 by 2030.
Mercedes W08 breaks cover at Silverstone
Mercedes has released teaser shots of its 2017 auto , the W08, a day before its launch at Silverstone. "We didn't have max power today so I don't get to unleash it until next week", Hamilton added.