[FRIAM] Space Exploration in the 21st Century

[Jochen Fromm]

You have heard about planetary resources and the first commercial flight 
to the ISS by the Dragon spacecraft from SpaceX. Is this a new step 
forward into commercial space exploration? Or a step back into the 
orbit? The first man landed on the moon already 40 years ago. I am just 
reading 'Carrying the Fire' from Michael Collins, an impressive book 
about a tremendous achivement in an exciting time. Although nobody has 
repeated this success in the last 4 decades, space exploration of the 
solar system with robots and rovers will certainly continue. Human space 
exploration is much more difficult, and I am not sure if it is the right 
path. Space veterans like Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins are of course 
supporters of manned space flight. What do you think? There is something 
profoundly affecting about these spacecrafts, spaceships and the other 
technical marvels from rocket science. Do we need humans to control them?

-J.
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