The mighty Titan -- a pillar in American rocketry for five decades -- flew into orbit for the final time Wednesday, capping a distinguished career of heavy-lifting that has spanned the nation's space age.

Final Titan Rocket Launch Ends an Era

NASA is faced with a dilemma right now: It wants to fly 19 Space Shuttle missions - 18 to the International Space Station (ISS) and one mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope between now and the end of FY 2010. The problem is that NASA simply does not have the money to do this. As it has been preparing its FY2007 budget NASA identified $5.6 billion in so-called "over-guideline" costs needed to support these missions - at the rate it wanted to fly the missions.

New NASA Plans Could Dramatically Limit Shuttle Flights And Halt Space Station Assembly | SpaceRef - Your Space Reference

Common wisdom in the aerospace community is that larger rockets will be cheaper than smaller rockets. Yet, common wisdom has failed to reduce the cost of human spaceflight—why?

Criticism of the proposed Heavy Lift Vehicle. I've heard folks say that the economics of STS would have worked out a lot better if they built 12 and flew it once a week.

The Mega-Module Path to Nowhere (Or: How to Eliminate Human Space Flight With an HLV)

These people are talking about flying a "space van" orbiter up to high altitude suspended under a sort of "kite" and then lighting a rocket engine. They think they can develop it for $200M.

3rd millenium space van

The initial propulsion work in support of NASA’s bid to return to the Moon and go on to Mars will focus primarily on adapting space shuttle systems and developing methane-fueled engines, a technology with which the United States has little experience.

NASA Propulsion Strategy Reaches Back While Looking Ahead

The Senate today passed by unanimous consent the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Act of 2005, legislation introduced by Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), Chairman of the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Science and Space. The legislation authorizes NASA for Fiscal Years 2006 through 2010, establishes a policy objective of uninterrupted U.S. spaceflight capability and requires completion of the International Space Station (ISS).

Senate Approves Sen. Hutchison's NASA Authorization Bill

Before the end of the next decade, NASA astronauts will again explore the surface of the moon. And this time, we're going to stay, building outposts and paving the way for eventual journeys to Mars and beyond. There are echoes of the iconic images of the past, but it won't be your grandfather's moon shot.

The Exploration Architecture thing was officially released today. So now its really official.

NASA - How We'll Get Back to the Moon | SpaceRef - Your Space Reference

The White House has approved NASA's plan to replace the nation's aging fleet of winged spaceships with a new generation of vehicles meant to carry human explorers back to the Moon and onward to Mars and beyond, aerospace experts said yesterday.

White House Backs NASA Plan for Vehicles

The U.S. Senate approved a $200 million budget increase for NASA Thursday, giving the U.S. space agency most of the funding it needs to get started on a new lunar exploration plan to be unveiled Monday.

SPACE.com -- Senate Approves $16.4 Billion Budget for NASA

NASA briefed senior White House officials Wednesday on its plan to spend $100 billion and the next 12 years building the spacecraft and rockets it needs to put humans back on the Moon by 2018.

The U.S. space agency now expects to roll out its lunar exploration plan to key Congressional committees on Friday and to the broader public through a news conference on Monday, Washington sources tell SPACE.com.

SPACE.com -- NASA to Unveil Plans to Send 4 Astronauts to Moon in 2018