Human Spaceflight

included plans for retiring the Space Shuttle program and replacing it with the capability for spaceflight beyond low Earth orbit. In the 2011 United States federal budget

Under the Bush administration, the

Constellation program

included plans for retiring the Space Shuttle program and replacing it with the capability for spaceflight beyond low Earth orbit. In the

2011 United States federal budget

, the Obama administration canceled Constellation for being over budget and behind schedule while not innovating and investing in critical new technologies.

[17]

As part of the

Artemis program

, NASA is developing the

Orion

spacecraft to be launched by the

Space Launch System

. Under the

Commercial Crew Development

plan, NASA relies on transportation services provided by the private sector to reach low Earth orbit, such as

SpaceX Dragon 2

, the

Boeing Starliner

or

Sierra Nevada Corporation

's

Dream Chaser

. The period between the retirement of the Space Shuttle in 2011 and the first launch into space of

SpaceShipTwo

Flight VP-03

on 13 December 2018 is similar to the gap between the end of

Apollo

in 1975 and the

first Space Shuttle flight

in 1981, and is referred to by a presidential Blue Ribbon Committee as the U.S. human spaceflight gap.