35 Companies Responded To NASA Call For Input, Nearly $6 Billion May Be Available

NASA says that it will be supportive of commercial companies who seek to build human-rated space vehicles, and hopes to be able to offer $5.8 billion to back up those words.

But, the agency says, Congress may not be as willing to shift funds from NASA to private business.

At an industry event in Washington, DC August 19th, NASA's commercial crew planning chief Phil McAlister said the agency hopes to fund the four best concepts with $5.8 billion. "This is going to be a challenging program for both NASA and the private sector," he said, "and if somebody stumbles along the way we would like to have other providers that hopefully we can rely on."

Fox News reports that McAlister said if Congress tells NASA to invest less in Commercial Crew, it will have to re-evaluate its plans. But he said "competition is a very strong driver."

SpaceX Dragon Artist's Concept

At the event, NASA officials said they have not yet defined the human-rating requirements for NASA astronauts flying in a privately-built spacecraft, but that they would work closely with the industry to do so. After that, though, they would take a "hands-off" attitude towards the development of the spacecraft as they have with the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program.

There were a couple of caveats to NASA's position. First, they were mostly mum about the issue of indemnification against third party claims in the event of a catastrophic malfunction. They also said the agency would be looking for complete, 'end-to-end' integration ... from launch complex to crew training and vehicle and crew recovery. Private companies would be expected to reimburse NASA for the use of government-owned facilities.

NASA Orion Artist's Concept

Some in the industry said it is vital that, if Congress decides to rely on Commercial Crew, that it not also fund NASA as a direct competitor to their efforts. Commercial Spaceflight Federation President Brett Alexander used the example of the Orion crew vehicle which Congress seems to favor, saying it is over-designed and too costly for the routine "taxi" missions of ferrying crew and cargo to ISS.

FMI: www.nasa.gov