NASAweighs risk of adding crew to launch of new rocket

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA is weighing the risk of adding astronauts to the first flight of its new megarocket, designed to eventually send crews to Mars.

The space agency’s human exploration chief said Friday that his boss and the Trump administration asked for the feasibility study to see what it would take to speed up a manned mission; under the current plan, astronauts wouldn’t climb aboard until 2021 — at best.

The Space Launch System, known as SLS, will be the most powerful rocket when it flies.

NASA is shooting for an unmanned test flight for late next year. Putting people on board would delay the mission and require extra money. The space agency’s William Gerstenmaier said if adding astronauts postpones the first flight beyond 2019, it would probably be better to stick with the original plan.

Under that plan, Gerstenmaier said, nearly three years are needed between an unmanned flight test and a crewed mission to make launch platform changes at Kennedy Space Center.

“We recognize this will be an increased risk” to put astronauts on the initial flight, Gerstenmaier said.

Astronauts are taking part in the study, which will weigh the extra risk against the benefits.

On Thursday, the independent Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel cautioned that NASA needs a compelling reason to put astronauts on the initial flight, given the risk.

The capsule that will carry the astronauts — NASA’s new Orion — already has flown on a space demo. Containing memorabilia and toys but no people, the capsule was launched into an extremely long orbit of Earth in 2014 by a Delta IV rocket, and splashed down into the Pacific.