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 […]
It was a case of good news, bad news, good news for SpaceX this early this morning. For NASA however, the news was nothing but good. This time, and without any drama, the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Dragon spacecraft on the CRS-5 mission lifted off at 4:47:10 from Cape Canaveral’s SLC-40. Dragon deployed […]
NASA announced four new, unfunded Space Act Agreements today as part of its Collaborations for Commercial Space Capabilities Initiative. The selection of SpaceX for “deep space” transportation capabilities is particularly intriguing, possibly indicating NASA is taking a speculative glance at the Falcon Heavy and the potential it offers. Big things can come from seemingly innocuous […]
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, […]
In the afterglow of a spectacularly successful initial test flight of the first, partially completed Orion spacecraft, it would have been gratifying to learn that for the first time, Congress has elected to fully fund the both the Space Launch System and NASA’s Commercial Crew program. Once again that is not the case, and America’s […]
NASA’s Exploration Flight Test-1 of a partially completed Orion spacecraft has proven to be a field day for the agency’s goal of inextricably linking the words “Orion” and “Mars” in the public perception and cementing the notion that the agency is indeed taking the first step towards a manned landing on the Red Planet. Perhaps […]
One of the biggest questions to be answered by the International Space Station doesn’t involve mice, plants or 3-d printers. Instead it regards the Station itself, its lifespan and ultimate disposition. Currently funded through 2020 with agreement on the part of all the International Partners; the U.S., Russia, ESA, Japan and Canada, what comes after […]
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 […]
Earlier this week, retiring Senator Tom Coburn, (R) Oklahoma released the 2014 edition (pdf) of the “Wastebook” of public spending. As always the publication includes a cherry picked list of the various ways in which government “wastes” taxpayer dollars, much of which is difficult defend no matter what your political point of view. As usual, NASA […]
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