Your Chance to Weigh in on NASA's Future Destinations

By Nancy Atkinson - July 13, 2010 at 3:09 PM UTC | Space Policy
meatball1-browse.jpg

Where do you think NASA's next destination should be in space? Asteroid? The Moon? Mars? The Planetary Society is hosting an interactive

Ustream chat

where you can put in your 2 cents.

"Tell us where you want to go in space!" said Bill Nye (the Science Guy) who will soon become the Planetary Society's new executive director. Nye and Louis Friedman, the Society's current executive director, will host the live chat – titled

"The New NASA Plan – Destinations"

-- on Wednesday, July 14, 2010 at 2:00 pm U.S. Pacific Time (5:00 pm EDT, 21:00 GMT). "We want a lively debate!" said Friedman, who urges anyone to join the discussion.

The Planetary Society has been actively encouraging discussion of the new plan proposed for NASA, a plan that would entail a major shift in NASA's human spaceflight program. The Society leadership feels that it is vital that public interest be represented in discussing issues that will change the course of the US space program for decades to come.

The new NASA plan for human spaceflight focuses on technologies and milestones that will advance human space flight out of Earth orbit and into the solar system. Mars may be the ultimate goal, but the path for humans to set foot on the Red Planet is flexible, to be determined step-by-step.

The Planetary Society plans to continue to hold webcasts on topics such as the deep space rocket, use of commercial launch vehicles, and robotic precursor missions.

Those wishing to participate in the

Ustream

chat room or to ask questions will need to set up a free account with Ustream prior to the start of the event. The New NASA Plan -- Destinations will also be archived on Ustream for later viewing.

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com