Abstract :
In recent months, the US space industry has been coasting, fully expecting a shuddering halt in the absence of a confirmed budget for NASA. Speaking at a plenary session on the impact on industry of government space policy, Boeing´s vice-president for Exploration Launch Systems, James Chilton, confirmed that uncertainty is affecting the way the company does business. While China and Japan back new space programmes, Mark Williamson finds worry replacing excitement for the industry in the Western world.
