Would Provide Atlas V For SpaceDev

Upstart commercial space travel provider SpaceDev may soon have some heavy hitters in its corner, as a proposal is in the works for United Launch Alliance -- a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin -- to provide launch vehicles for the company's Dream Chaser manned spacecraft.

SpaceDev CEO Mark Sirangelo told the Wichita Eagle ULA has agreed to study using its Atlas V booster -- a mainstay of current unmanned commercial launches -- to send SpaceDev's spacecraft on commercial and tourist flights.

As Aero-News has reported, SpaceDev hopes to send six to eight passengers at a time on low-earth-orbital flights onboard the Dream Chaser. A variant of the spacecraft -- which lands on conventional runways, similar to the current space shuttle -- could also be used to transport paying customers and/or cargo to the International Space Station.

"Space tourism is going to be a multibillion-dollar market," said Sirangelo. "It's fairly significant, but it's only a part of our market, not the whole thing. We're going to sell the same core system to the government, to commercial operators to move satellites to space, or to operators who may move people back and forth for tourism in space."

ULA spokeswoman Julie Andrews confirmed the spaceflight consortium is reviewing SpaceDev's case -- but declined to comment further.

"We will be a merchant supplier of launch services," Andrews said. "We're just at the beginning of this."

FMI: www.spacedev.com, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Launch_Alliance