Boeing falls behind SpaceX in next space race, CNN Money “Boeing said Tuesday that it has pushed the date of its first manned space mission back from 2017 to 2018. Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner, which will carry the astronauts, is still under development. SpaceX, led by Tesla Motors (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk, says it intends to have a manned mission in 2017 using its Dragon space capsule. Unlike the Starliner, Dragon […]

NASA’s Response to Orbital’s October 2014 Launch Failure: Impacts on Commercial Resupply of the ISS, NASA OIG “Orbital’s Return to Flight Plan contains technical and operational risks and may be difficult to execute as designed and on the timetable proposed. … This tight schedule does not include a test flight for the modified system and provides limited opportunities for qualification and certification testing. … when calculating the cost to NASA […]

NASA Expands Commercial Space Program, Requests Proposals for Second Round of Cargo Resupply Contracts for International Space Station “On the heels of awarding groundbreaking contracts to U.S. commercial space companies to ferry American astronauts to the International Space Station, NASA has released a request for proposals (RFP) for the next round of contracts for private-sector companies to deliver experiments and supplies to the orbiting laboratory.”

NASA Release Final Commercial Orbital Transportation Services Report “The report documents the work of NASA’s Commercial Crew & Cargo Program Office (C3PO) between 2005 and 2013 to partner with private industry to take over more routine operations in low-Earth orbit. This move toward more cooperative engagement with industry partners allowed NASA to focus more on scientific research, technology development and exploration goals.”

NASA Hails Success of Commercial Space Program Private Space Station Resupply Underway, Plans Readied for Astronauts “NASA Administrator Charles Bolden Wednesday hailed the success of the agency’s public-private partnership with American companies to resupply the International Space Station and announced the next phase of contracting with U.S. companies to transport astronauts is set to begin next week.” Keith’s note: The only “news” from this morning’s webcast is that NASA will […]

A critical time for commercial launch providers, The Space Review “For a time last week, it looked like we would be in the midst of an unusually concentrated period of critical launches. In the span of less than a week, four launches of new, nearly new, or returning to flight vehicles were on global launch manifests: the inaugural launch of Japan’s Epsilon small launch vehicle, the first launch of SpaceX’s […]

Orbital’s Cygnus Readying for First Space Station Flight, OnOrbit “Orbital Sciences’ Cygnus cargo craft is bound for the International Space Station on a test flight. This flight will prove Cygnus’ ability to rendezvous with the station and be captured by the crew on board.” Marc’s note: With just under a month to the Orbital Antares launch to the Space Station, NASA has released this slick video on the Commercial Orbital […]

American Resupply Missions to the Space Station Progressing “Orbital Sciences Corporation Monday rolled the first stage of its Antares rocket to the launch pad of the nation’s newest spaceport – the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at Wallops Island, Va. – while in Florida, Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) moves ahead with preparations for an Oct. 7 launch to the International Space Station for NASA’s first Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) mission. These developments […]

Veteran Space Company Orbital Sciences Ready for ISS, Wired “With a few decades of space launch experience already under its belt, the Orbital Sciences Corporation is next up to demonstrate cargo delivery capabilities to the International Space Station. With so much attention focused on SpaceX’s successful demonstration flight last month, it might be easy to forget Elon Musk’s company is just one of two receiving investments from NASA as part […]

SpaceX Dragon Scehdule for Friday “Around 2:00 AM Pacific/5:00 AM Eastern NASA will decide if Dragon is GO to move into the approach ellipsoid 1.4 kilometers around the space station. If Dragon is GO, after approximately one hour Dragon will move to a location 250 meters directly below the station. Dragon will then perform a series of maneuvers to show systems are operating as expected. If NASA is satisfied with […]