Space Exploration: Where We Have Been, Where We Are and Where We Are Going: A Human Perspective

NASA is moving forward towards the agency's new vision for space exploration in the 21 st Century encompassing a broad range of human and robotic missions including missions to Moon, Mars and beyond.Exposure from the hazards of severe space radiation in deep space long duration missions is 'the show stopper.'Langley has developed state-of-the-art radiation protection and shielding technology for space missions.The payload penalty demands a very stringent requirement on the design of the spacecrafts for human deep space missions.The exploration beyond low Earth orbit (LEO) to enable routine access to more interesting regions of space will require protection from the hazards of the accumulated exposures of space radiation, Galactic Cosmic Rays (GCR) and Solar Particle Events (SPE), and minimizing the production of secondary radiation is a great advantage.The better understanding of radiation environment (GCR & SPE) and their interaction is a key to the success of the program due to the vital role and importance of cosmic rays for space missions.