Tue, Apr 01, 2008
'We Haven't Had 'Cool' For Quite Some Time'
ANN APRIL 1st "SPECIAL" EDITION: Engineers at
NASA tell ANN they can't wait to get their hands on blueprints for
XCOR Aerospace's recently-unveiled Lynx sub-orbital spaceship...
now that the space agency has purchased the emerging commercial
space travel provider.
Terms of the purchase agreement, announced Monday, were not
disclosed... but NASA Administrator Michael Griffin made it clear
why the agency wanted the company.
"When I first saw the drawings of the Lynx, I immediately
thought "wow! Cool!" Griffin said. "We haven't had 'cool' at NASA
for quite some time now. The closest thing we have is probably the
space shuttle, which looks like a brick house but not in a good
way."
In particular, NASA hopes to utilize Lynx's self-launching
capabilities, which will allow the light space vehicles to take off
like conventional, albeit rocket-powered, aircraft, then climb
skyward. Following approximately five minutes in weightlessness,
Lynx will glide down to Earth, and land in a similar manner to
NASA's space shuttle.
Under NASA's direction, the small, two-person Lynx is slated to
enter service in 2010, and will serve as a 'bridge' design between
the shuttle fleet, scheduled for retirement in September of that
year, and the agency's upcoming Orion orbital capsule. Future
design variants may include the ability to dock at the
International Space Station, to serve as crew and cargo transfer
vehicles.
A handful of Lynx space vehicles will also be employed for
commercial space travel missions, Griffin said.
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