Image Credit : SpaceX On Monday, Innerspace reported on a story in Space News about an excerpt from a letter sent by U.S. Representatives Lamar Smith (Tx) and Steven Palazzo, (Ms) to NASA Administrator Charles Bolden regarding the possible use of Orion as a backup to Commercial Crew. Significantly, the letter also questioned whether or […]
Cygnus Approach Orion Image Credit: OSC One of the most common arguments put forward in support of NASA’s current program of exploration using the Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft is that alternative modular missions launched by smaller boosters are inherently too complicated. The ISS, which required dozens of Shuttle and Russian launches to complete, […]
In case anyone thought NASA’s announcement of two winners in the Commercial Crew program, one of which was Boeing, signified a new era of cordial relations between “NewSpace” advocates for Commercial Crew and those who remain firmly in the camp of the “OldSpace” approach as represented by the SLS/Orion program, a letter from two key […]
Image Credit: NASA Note: Another NASA story/promotion with a somewhat misleading headline. While NASA is preparing to launch a partially completed Orion spacecraft on a Delta Heavy in order to test the heat shield, and has two flights aboard SLS in development, there is absolutely no concrete plan, and more importantly no budget, to send […]
Rarely, if ever, has a NASA OIG report been this direct: “We found that NASA has organized its NEO Program under a single Program Executive who manages a loosely structured conglomerate of research activities that are not well integrated and lack an overarching framework with Program oversight, objectives, and established milestones to track progress.” “NASA […]
Image Credit: NASA/Rad Sinyak NASA.gov has the following “story” regarding the Orion spacecraft. It is difficult to decide what to make of the headline, just as it is for the entire SLS/Orion program as a whole. Depending on your perspective, the claim that “Orion’s First Crew Module Complete” could be considered to be perfectly accurate […]
NASA issued a press release (below) and then held a press conference today regarding the Space Launch System. The ostensible reason was to announce the completion of a program go/no go threshold called a Key Decision Point C (KDP-C.) The real reason was to announce a slip in the first launch date by nearly a […]
Image Credit: NASA TV The last of five European Space Agency ATV’s docked with the International Space Station earlier today. One has to wonder whether Europe will ultimately regret terminating the ATV production line in favor of supporting NASA’s Space Launch System by providing a service module for the first and likely second SLS/Orion missions […]
A series of reports highlight the challenges NASA faces in making progress with its plans for the Space Launch System over the next ten years. Only days days before SLS program manager Todd May told an audience at the annual Mars Society convention that the mega booster is still on track for a late 2017 […]
As the second full week of August begins, we are approaching ever closer to a critical decision point in the future of American space transportation, an award announcement in the final phase of NASA’s Commercial Crew program. The next phase, called CCtCap, or Commercial Crew Transportation Capability is notionally set to be awarded in “August […]
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