A Proposal For a Commissioned Corps of Space Travelers

The exploitive capabilities of the Space Shuttle include its ability to function as a reconnaissance or navigational satellite, a repair or resupply station for other satellites, or as a base station for building large structures in space. Additionally, senior officials of NASA strongly support the establishment of a permanently manned space station, of which shuttle technological capabilities would be an integral part. I As astronaut Robert Crippen said after the maiden flight of Columbia: We are really in the space business to stay. While the new space technology is undergoing refinement and the imagination is simultaneously developing virtually unlimited uses for it, new problems arise