Wed, Sep 21, 2011
CCDev2 Optional Milestones Outlined By Bolden
NASA
on Monday unveiled an outline of its acquisition strategy to
procure transportation services from private industry to carry U.S.
astronauts to low Earth orbit and the International Space Station.
The agency also announced the addition of optional milestones for
the Commercial Crew Development Round 2 (CCDev2) initiative.
"This is a significant step forward in America's amazing story
of space exploration," said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden
(pictured). "It's further evidence we are committed to fully
implementing our plan – as laid out in the Authorization Act
– to outsource our space station transportation so NASA can
focus its energy and resources on deep space exploration."
NASA's draft request for proposal (RFP) outlines a contract that
will be awarded to multiple companies that provide a complete
end-to-end design, including spacecraft, launch vehicles, launch
services, ground and mission operations and recovery. The $1.61
billion Integrated Design Contract (IDC) will run from July 2012
through April 2014. "This IDC effort will bring us through the
critical design phase to fully incorporate our human spaceflight
safety requirements and NASA's International Space Station mission
needs," said NASA Commercial Crew Program Manager Ed Mango. "We
look forward to strong U.S. industry response."
Bolden also announced Monday at a speech to the Air Force
Association 2011 Air and Space Conference that NASA will fund
optional milestones pre-negotiated as part of some of the original
CCDev2 Space Act Agreements (SAA) to help accelerate
development.
NASA amended Sierra Nevada Corp.'s SAA to include four optional
milestones for a total of $25.6 million, bringing the potential
value of Sierra Nevada's SAA to $105.6 million, if all milestones
are completed successfully. The agency also amended Boeing's SAA to
include three optional milestones for a total of $20.6 million,
bringing the potential value of Boeing's SAA to $112.9 million, if
all milestones are reached.
"All four CCDev2 partners are performing very well and meeting
their milestones," said Phil McAlister, director of NASA's
Commercial Spaceflight Development. "These additional milestones
were selected because they sufficiently accelerated the development
of commercial crew transportation systems to justify additional
NASA investment."
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