Image Credit: SpaceX NASA and SpaceX held a press conference at the Kennedy Space Center this morning to preview next week’s Pad Abort Test for the Commercial Crew Dragon capsule. SpaceX was represented by V.P. of Mission Assurance Hans Koenigsmann, and NASA by SpaceX Commercial Crew parter manager John Cowart. The test, which had been […]
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 […]
Image Credit: SNC Not a good day for Sierra Nevada at court. In a very brief ruling, a judge in the U.S. Federal Court of Appeals declined to “overrule the override” and order NASA rescind its order to Boeing and SpaceX to resume work on the recently awarded Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap) contracts. To […]
Image Credit: Boeing Note: NASA’s start work /stop work/ start work edicts to Boeing and SpaceX due to the Sierra Nevada Commercial Crew bid protest do not apply to the work being performed under CCiCap. The timing of this announcement is also a little strange. Boeing announced in August that it had completed all of […]
Image Credit: Boeing The NASA source selection statement for Commercial Crew is still not publicly available, at least officially, but Aviation Week has obtained a copy, and the resulting article sheds some light on what its says. From the article: “The internal document, signed by NASA Associate Administrator William Gerstenmaier on Sept. 15, the day […]
Note: NASA has made the right call here. The SNC protest can go on, even as work does as well. One wonders why this took as long as it did. Presumably it took until today to get a legal opinion. NASA News Story: NASA Exercises Authority to Proceed with Commercial Crew Contracts On Sept. 16, […]
Update: NBC new is reporting via veteran space journalist Jay Barbree that Boeing and SpaceX will be named the two winners of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program later today, with a larger share going to Boeing. Given that Boeing received a larger share than SpaceX, $460 million v. $440 million in the current round, and clearly has […]
The Wall Street Journal set off a firestorm Monday evening with an article by Andy Pasztor suggesting that Boeing is about to be named the walk off winner in NASA’s next phase of the Commercial Crew Competition, CCtCap, with an award made in conjunction with Blue Origin. Anything could happen. As long time observers will […]
Make of this what you will. Two late breaking stories suggest major changes may be afoot. First: The Wall Street Journal’s Andy Pasztor reports that Blue Origin is scheduled to participate in an event at the National Press Club on Wednesday, where a major engine initiative involving Blue Origin, Boeing and Lockheed Martin will be […]
Recent Comments