ESA, NASA, Russian astronauts: Where next in space?

As part of the Astrolab Mission post-flight tour, ESA astronaut Thomas Reiter is joined by his ISS Expedition 13 & 14 colleagues, Pavel Vinogradov (Russia), Jeffrey Williams (NASA), Michael Lopez-Alegria (NASA) and Mikail Tyurin (Russia), for a lively discussion on the future direction of human exploration in our Solar System. The session took place 22 June 2007 at ESA's Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany, and included Bob Chesson, ESA's manager for Human Spaceflight and Exploration Operations.

As part of the Aurora exploration strategy, ESA is planning to create, and then implement, a European long-term plan for the robotic and human exploration of the solar system, with Mars, the Moon and the asteroids as the most likely targets. Planned missions include the ExoMars robotic rover and Mars Sample Return.