Fri, Aug 18, 2006
Selects Crew and Cargo Transportation to Orbit
Partners
NASA selected SpaceX,
El Segundo, Calif. and Rocketplane-Kistler, Oklahoma City, to
develop and demonstrate commercial orbital transportation services
that could open new markets and pave the way for contracts to
launch and deliver crew and cargo to the International Space
Station.
NASA and the two companies signed Space Act Agreements that
establish milestones and objective criteria to assess their
progress throughout Phase 1 of the competition. Once a capability
is demonstrated, NASA plans to purchase crew and cargo delivery
services competitively in Phase 2.
"NASA is proud to work with SpaceX and Rocketplane-Kistler as
they endeavor to take American entrepreneurial spirit to new
heights," said NASA's Exploration Systems Mission Directorate
Associate Administrator Scott Horowitz.
"When commercial enterprises turn the journey to low-Earth orbit
into a profit-making business model, NASA will be free to focus on
goals that are more appropriate for government, such as exploration
of the moon and Mars."
In Phase 1, the companies will demonstrate a combination of four
capabilities: external (unpressurized) cargo delivery and disposal;
internal (pressurized) cargo delivery and disposal; internal cargo
delivery and return; and an option for crew transportation.
"These companies were selected from a total of 20 applicants,
based on solid engineering of innovative concepts and sound
business plans," said Alan Lindenmoyer, manager of the Commercial
Crew and Cargo Program Office at the Johnson Space Center,
Houston.
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