European astronauts said they now want to have an independent spacecraft to take them to the International Space Station.
IN SPACE - AUGUST 3: In this NASA handout, mission specialist, Astronaut Stephen K. Robinson, is anchored to a foot restraint on the International Space Station's Canadarm2 robotic arm, during his space walk to repair the underside of the space shutttle Discovery August 3, 2005. Space shuttle Discovery is scheduled to return to Earth August 8.
For the past years, Europe's space experts have always needed help just to reach ISS.EU astronauts have been visiting the Earth's orbit ever since 1978.
Various American and Russian rockets delivered them to many space stations, such as ISS and the Salyut 6 space station. However, the European astronauts now want to change this scenario by having their own spacecraft.
European Astronauts Want To Be Independent
According to Ars Technica's latest report, the Association of Space Explorers-Europe (ASE), the European astronauts agency, shared that they now need a crewed spaceflight vehicle.
In this handout photo provided by the European Space Agency (ESA), German ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst takes a photo during his spacewalk, whilst aboard the International Space Station (ISS) on October 7, 2014 in Space. Gerst returned to earth on November 10, 2014 after spending six months on the International Space Station completing an extensive scientific programme.
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On the other hand, the EU leaders released a document on Wednesday, Feb. 16, explaining their concern about Europe's space industry status.
"While Europe is still at the forefront of many space endeavors, such as Earth observation, navigation, and space science, it is lagging in the increasingly strategic domains of space transportation and exploration," they explained.
They added that although Europe's Gross Domestic Product can compete against the United States.
Why Europe Wants Space Independency?
ASE said that going to and from ISS will help the European astronauts avoid the issues between Russia and the U.S.
On the other hand, the independent spacecraft will also enable Europe to enhance its space industry. However, this will still take years until the team develops its space vehicle.
Aside from having its own crewed space vehicle, Europe is also focusing on its third major satellite network, as reported by Euro News. If you want to see more details about this, just click here.
In other news, Astra's NASA satellite launch failed. On the other hand, the first SpaceX Starship orbital flight is expected to happen this coming March.
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Written by: Griffin Davis
