Approaching TL9?

[RyanW]

Originally Posted by Phantasm

Our space travel/colonization tech may be on the Slow (2040) or even Retarded (2050) progressions, but I think we're still in TL8 there. Just because we don't have a moon base doesn't mean the advancements developed for the later shuttles (Atlantis and Endeavor) or our newer and faster probes (New Horizons) are "still TL7".

The Dawn mission is undeniably TL8. We just got saddled for a long time with an overdesigned late TL7/early TL8 design for our primary manned spacecraft.