Designing the Future of Human Spaceflight

There has been a continued human presence in space since 2000, thanks to the birth of the International Space Station. With the ISS' planned decommissioning on the horizon, national space stations and commercial astronauts have taken over a growing segment of the astronautics arena. With planned crewed missions to the Moon and Mars, human spaceflight is taking the next giant leap forward. This panel will look at how we are designing the future of astronautics. Crewed missions are venturing farther into space, staging longer journeys on remote outposts and teams from various nationalities and profiles. Designing spacecraft, habitats, and stations is now not just a technical challenge but a question of how to accommodate the diversity of humankind. This panel will focus on the following three aspects of astronautics: space architecture, life support for space, and inclusive design. This panel addresses the diversity of human spaceflight needs in the coming decades. Plans for crewed missions in space reflect the multipolarity on Earth, and intentional design is essential in ensuring that space will be used for peaceful purposes for all of humankind. The three panel themes will address how we will sustain life in space, build societies in space, and design for inclusive access to space.