Last Shuttle Roll Out

Today's APOD highlights a historic event in human space flight. After 30 years NASA's successful space shuttle program is coming to a close. With the shuttle fleet aging, it was decided to retire the remaining fleet with STS-135 being the last one. Atlantis will carry her four person crew to the ISS on July 8th, barring any delays.

So what is next for human spaceflight after the shuttle? Well Russia has been using its Soyuz capsules for now on 50 years. This will be the primary vehicle to get into orbit until a new system is developed to replace the shuttles. With the Constellation Program canceled, NASA has moved to a program which will be reliant in the future on commercially developed launch vehicles. However, until these vehicles are ready the only way to get to the ISS is via the Soyuz rocket. Unfortunately, no clear plan has been put forward as to what to do with human spaceflight beyond the ISS. Proposals have included going back to the Moon, landing on an asteroid and landing on Mars.