Dawn of New Era : KSC Clock Adds Up the Minutes of the First SpaceX Launch to ISS If Project Constellation was the clear victim of President Obama’s Kennedy Space Center address, the immediate beneficiary was without a doubt the International Space Station program. Slated for de-orbit as soon as 2016 in some Constellation planning […]
Artists Conception of Boeing/ULA Commercial Crew Tower / Image Credit: ULA From NASA.GOV “Boeing and United Launch Alliance teams held a ceremonial groundbreaking Feb. 20 to begin construction on the first new crew access structure at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in decades. The preparations will enable Space Launch Complex 41 to host astronauts and […]
On Monday, the Obama Administration announced its proposed budget for FY 2016, a $4 trillion dollar (officially $3.999) spending tally which is certain to be contested by the new Republican Congress. As part of the day’s events, NASA Chief Financial Officer (CFO) David Radzanowski presented the space agency’s own $18.5 billion dollar slice of the […]
A press conference held at Johnson Space Center on Monday did not delivery any real surprises regarding NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, but it did fill in a few missing details regarding agreements which have been embargoed since mid-September due Sierra Nevada’s bid protest. It also provided a bit more information about SpaceX’s upcoming plans. Some […]
Following the GAO’s denial of bid protest lodged by Sierra Nevada Corporation on January 5, NASA released late last week, a redacted version of its Source Selection Statement for the final phase of Commercial Crew program. Its official name is Commercial Crew Transportation Capability Contract, or CCtCap. Now, the GAO has released a similarly redacted […]
Dream Deferred: Image Credit SNC The New Year did not bring good news for Sierra Nevada and its Dream Chaser space plane. As most expected would be the case, the GAO notified SNC that it is denying the company’s protest over NASA’s Commercial Crew award to Boeing and SpaceX. GAO said in part: “In making […]
After standing down during a period of solar heating following a prematurely terminated December 16 static fire of the Falcon 9 V1.1 booster, NASA and SpaceX are once again preparing for launch of the CRS-5 resupply mission to the International Space Station originally scheduled for December 18th. Weather, which had been a concern a 60% […]
NASA Press Release RELEASE 14-340 SpaceX Completes First Milestone for Commercial Crew Transportation System NASA has approved the completion of SpaceX’s first milestone in the company’s path toward launching crews to the International Space Station (ISS) from U.S. soil under a Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap) contract with the agency. During the Certification Baseline Review, […]
The next SpaceX launch to the International Space Station has been shifted from a provisional No Earlier Than (NET) date of December 9th one week until December 16th, with backup dates on the 19th and 20th. Liftoff is scheduled at 2:31 pm EST. NASA is still in the process of shuffling its payload assignments in […]
A NASA press release issued on Friday outlines ongoing progress in the Commercial Crew program. Of particular note, Blue Origin and NASA agreed to a further three unfunded milestones as part of its CCDev-2 contract. While it is still almost impossible to write anything about the Jeff Bezos venture without falling back on the word […]
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