Sat, Dec 17, 2011
Agency Releases A Non-Technical Status Report Every 60
Days
NASA released the fourth in a series of 60-day reports today
showing that commercial spaceflight development programs are moving
forward. The agency’s U.S. industry partners continue to make
progress in developing a transportation system to ferry cargo and
U.S. astronauts to the International Space Station. The development
of industry systems will allow NASA to concentrate its resources on
deep space exploration.
The latest status report highlights the progress and
accomplishments for the agency's commercial spaceflight development
efforts. The bi-monthly report is targeted toward non-technical
stakeholders and the American public, to inform them of NASA's
achievements in maintaining spaceflight leadership. In the report,
NASA says both of its COTS partners continue to make technical
progress toward developing and demonstrating their cargo
transportation capabilities. However, schedules for their
demonstration flights have been delayed from the original
aggressive targets. It mentions the projected February 7th launch
date for the COTS 2 and 3 demonstration flight by SpaceX, as well
planning by Orbital Sciences for the maiden launch of their newly
named Antares launch vehicle (previously referred to as
“Taurus II”) in late February or March 2012, and the
COTS demonstration flight to the ISS in April.
NASA also says that it has entered into a new agreement with
Houston-based Excalibur Almaz, Inc. (EAI) for collaboration on
furthering the development of EAI's spacecraft concept for low
Earth orbit crew transportation (pictured, below). The agreement is
an unfunded SAA, which means that NASA will provide limited
technical support to EAI but no funding.
NASA's Commercial Spaceflight Development programs are investing
financial and technical resources to stimulate efforts within the
private sector to develop and demonstrate safe, reliable, and
cost-effective space transportation capabilities. (Images provided
by NASA)
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