After the Shuttle

[CarbonCopy]

What is the next generation launch vehicles for NASA after the shuttle program

[CaptainPanic]

I think the general idea is to leave the ordinary launch vehicles to the commercial companies, like Ariane Space, SpaceX, Sea Launch, etc.

 

The official follow up on the Space Shuttle is the Ares program (Ares I and Ares V). But I am not sure why NASA bother with that, when the commercial companies seem capable of launching stuff into orbit already. Either you privatize and outsource, or you don't. To do both is a little weird to me.