Congressional Hearings this Week to Focus on Commercial Space, SpaceRef “There will be two important congressional hearings this week on Commercial Space. First up on Tuesday, February 24th is the U.S. Human Exploration Goals and Commercial Space Competitiveness Senate Subcommittee on Space, Science, and Competitiveness hearing chaired by U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas). Next up on Friday, February 27th is the House Subcommittee on Space Hearing; The Commercial Crew Program: […]

NASA News Conference: Update on the Commercial Crew Program, SpaceRef Business “NASA, Boeing and SpaceX will held a news briefing on NASA Television at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston on Jan. 26, to highlight key development activities, test plans and objectives for achieving certification of two American crew transportation systems.” Marc’s note: Missed the news conference? Watch it from the link above. Bolden "I don't ever want to […]

NASA FY 2015 Budget – Commercial Crew is Investing in America, SpaceRef Business “Early in his opening statement during the NASA teleconference on NASA’s FY 2015 budget request, NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden made it clear that reliance on the Russians for access to the International Space Station is choice Congress must choose to end. Bolden said “budgets are about making choices, and let me clear about one thing, the choice […]

NASA Provides Updated Commercial Spaceflight Report, SpaceRef Business “NASA has released its 14th 60 day Commercial Spaceflight Report. The bi-monthly report outlines the progress of NASA’s commercial crew and cargo development programs. Highlights include Boeing completing 15 of 20 Commercial Crew integrated Capability (CCiCap) milestones, SpaceX completing 12 of 17 and Sierra Nevada 8 of 14.” “Of the five milestones left for Boeing, two will be completed in the first […]

NASA Announces Additional Commercial Crew Development Milestones, NASA “NASA announced Thursday it is adding some additional milestones to agreements with three U.S. commercial companies that are developing spaceflight capabilities that could eventually provide launch services to transport NASA astronauts to the International Space Station from U.S. soil. The milestones are: — Boeing Spacecraft Safety Review. NASA’s investment is $20 million and the milestone is planned to be accomplished in July […]

Dream Chaser Completes Ground Tow Tests [Watch], Sierra Nevada Corporation “Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) announces the completion of the Dream Chaser Space System tow testing at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center in Edwards, Calif. The ground tow tests were conducted in preparation for the upcoming approach and landing test scheduled for the third quarter 2013.” “We are very excited to complete this series of tests and achieve another critical milestone […]

KSC Releases New Commercial Crew Program Marketing Video, SpaceRef Business “The two minute video aims to capture the history and spirit of human spaceflight. The slick video does capture the essence, but seems to fall short of its goal.”

NASA Commercial Crew Transportation Capability Contract CCTCAP Draft RFP, NASA “The CCtCap contract is the second phase of a two-phased procurement strategy to develop a U.S. commercial crew space transportation capability to achieve safe, reliable and cost effective access to and from the International Space Station (ISS) with a goal of no later than 2017. The Government does not intend to acquire a commercial item using FAR Part 12. This […]

Boeing Completes New Spacecraft, Rocket Milestones, NASA “The Boeing Company of Houston, a NASA Commercial Crew Program (CCP) partner, recently performed wind tunnel testing of its CST-100 spacecraft and integrated launch vehicle, the United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket.” “… Boeing now has completed two of eight performance milestones under CCiCap and is on track to complete all 19 of its milestones around mid-2014.”

Will competing plans hurt nation’s future in space?, Florida Today “But Commercial Crew has been a tough sell, politically. Lawmakers reluctantly have provided enough money for it to limp along, but not nearly enough to meet some of the ambitious deadlines the Obama administration originally set. And they question whether aerospace companies are being given too much flexibility in developing a new vehicle to carry U.S. astronauts to the space […]