NASA Administrator Announces New Commercial Crew And Cargo Milestones “NASA Administrator Charles Bolden announced Thursday new milestones in the nation’s commercial space initiatives from the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The latest advances made by NASA’s commercial space partners pave the way for the first contracted flight of cargo to the International Space Station (ISS) this fall and mark progress toward a launch of astronauts from U.S. soil in […]

Olson, Colleagues Urge White House to Correct Safety Glitch (NASA Commercial Crew) “Rep. Pete Olson (R-Sugar Land) and several colleagues today urged White House Office of Science and Technology Director John Holdren to follow through on his understanding that NASA should retain all encompassing responsibility over the safety requirements for development of commercial crew vehicles. Under proposed agreements between NASA and commercial crew entities, NASA would not have the necessary […]

Keith’s 25 Feb note: Looks like NASA has adopted the adventure movie promo production approach – loud music that tells you to pay attention, quick edits, all for the new video Commercial Crew Program video “Taking America To New Heights”. This video only appears on the official NASA KSC YouTube channel. No mention is made anywhere else at NASA. Who is the intended audience for this? The public? Congress? Media? […]

Commercial Crew Initiative Called Underfunded, Aviation Week “Funding for NASA’s commercial crew space transportation services initiative appears headed for funding problems that could undermine the agency’s efforts to regain the independent U.S. human launch capability that lapsed with the shuttle program’s retirement earlier this year, members of NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) warned Oct. 21.” Comments by NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver at the International Symposium for Personal and […]

Secretive US X-37B Space Plane Could Evolve to Carry Astronauts, Space.com “The maker of the X-37B robotic space plane has outlined new plans for the spacecraft and a scaled-up version to support space station cargo deliveries or even carry astronauts into orbit. The Boeing X-37B robotic space plane — also known as the Orbital Test Vehicle or OTV — is being operated by the U.S. Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office, […]

NASA Releases Commercial Crew Draft RFP, Announces CCDEV2 Optional Milestones “NASA unveiled Monday an outline of its acquisition strategy to procure transportation services from private industry to carry U.S. astronauts to low Earth orbit and the International Space Station. The agency also announced the addition of optional milestones for the Commercial Crew Development Round 2 (CCDev2) initiative.” NASA Solicitation: Commercial Crew Integrated Design Contract Draft RFP “A Requirements Workshop, a […]

Commercial Crew Market Study Generates Small Firestorm, Space News “NASA spokesman Michael Braukus said the Aerospace Corp. analysis, paid for by the agency’s Independent Program and Cost Evaluation office, led by Michael Hawes, is one of many commissioned to assess the business case for private space taxis. “The Aerospace Corporation used their own assumptions for many of the inputs to the analysis; they did not use proprietary data inputs from […]

Preliminary Report Regarding NASA’s Space Launch System and Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle Pursuant to Section 309 of the NASA Authorization Act of 2010 (P.L. 111-267) “To date, trade studies performed by the Agency have yet to identify heavy-lift and capsule architectures that would both meet all SLS requirements and these goals. For example, a 2016 first flight of the SLS does not appear to be possible within projected FY 2011 and […]

Commercial Crew Transportation System Certification Requirements for NASA Low Earth Orbit Missions “This document defines the requirements, standards and certification package contents that will be used to certify a CCTS for LEO Missions. It will be the responsibility of the NASA Program Manager and Technical Authorities to determine the applicability of individual requirements and standards based on the DRM being certified and apply the Agency risk posture (for the DRM) […]

The coming train wreck for Commercial Human Spaceflight, Wayne Hale “Now NASA has released a draft (dated Oct. 8, 2010) of its requirements CCT-REQ-1130 ISS Crew Transportation and Services Requirements. I’d like for you to read it but it is behind NASA’s IT firewall and you must have an ID and password to access it. I have read it and I’m disappointed. The document runs a mind-numbing 260 pages of […]