The Second Space Age

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Dr Kevin Fong -

The Constellation Project is dead; with it an architecture that promised to return humans to The Moon and build the capability to send them to Mars. In the wake of the Augustine Report the United States Government does not intend to continue alone in its human space flight endeavours; preparing instead to rely upon the commercial sector, international partners or both.  The first space age, along with its programmes of exploration, served its political purpose as the surrogate battlefield for super powers with ballistic, nuclear arsenals.  A new and uncertain, age or space is in the making but what will this mean for programmes of human exploration?

Kevin Fong is an anaesthetist and honorary lecturer in physiology at University College London. He chairs the UK Space Biomedical Advisory Committee and co-directs the Centre for Aviation, Space and Extreme environment medicine (CASE).
Kevin holds degrees in medicine and astrophysics and his background in these disciplines has led to his current special area of interest. In the past Kevin has collaborated with international space agency organisations and is currently working at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston investigating the effects of long-term space flight on the human body.
He has spent the last six years working with British National Space Centre in an attempt to further UK involvement in the international space programme.


Website: www.ras.org.uk