Air Force and SpaceX Sign Cooperative Agreement
SMC Enters into Cooperative Research and Development Agreement with SpaceX, Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center
“The Space and Missile Systems Center has signed a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with Space Exploration Technologies Corp., better known as SpaceX, as part of the company’s effort to certify its Falcon 9 v1.1 Launch System for National Security Space (NSS) missions. This cooperative agreement facilitates data exchanges and protects proprietary and export-controlled data. The CRADA will be in effect until all certification activities are complete.”
STP-2 (US Air Force)
2015
Falcon Heavy
Cape Canaveral
The SpaceX schedule already has a flight. There is also a F9 flight. So AF does unqualified flights to qualify these rockets. Maybe the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing.
Perhaps they are test flights. I have heard there is a bit of friction as DOD and NASA certification engineers, heavily oriented toward reducing risk through in-depth verification, encounter SpaceX, with its tradition of moving directly from design to fabrication and test flight without much paperwork. Hopefully a reasonable compromise will be reached.
Doesn’t that person signing that document look a lot like the actor that played the emperor of the dark side in the early Star Wars films??
Don’t give in Luke!!!!!!
I have read another article on this and it gives more detail. The first 2 are not high security. Nice to see the USAF do these missions and give heavy a chance to fly.