NASA Administrator Announces New Commercial Crew And Cargo Milestones

David Weaver

Headquarters, Washington     

202-358-1600

david.s.weaver@nasa.gov

 

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA Administrator Charles Bolden announced Thursday new milestones in the nation's commercial space initiatives from the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The latest advances made by NASA's commercial space partners pave the way for the first contracted flight of cargo to the International Space Station (ISS) this fall and mark progress toward a launch of astronauts from U.S. soil in the next 5 years.

Bolden announced Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) has completed its Space Act Agreement with NASA for Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS). SpaceX is scheduled to launch the first of its 12 contracted cargo flights to the space station from Cape Canaveral in October, under NASA's Commercial Resupply Services Program.

"We're working to open a new frontier for commercial opportunities in space and create job opportunities right here in Florida and across the United States," Bolden said. "And we’re working to in-source the work that is currently being done elsewhere and bring it right back here to the U.S. where it belongs."

Through the COTS program, NASA provides investments to stimulate the American commercial space industry. As part of its COTS partnership, SpaceX became the first commercial company to resupply the space station in May, successfully launching its Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft to the orbiting complex. During the historic mission, the Dragon was captured by astronauts using the station's robot arm, unloaded and safely returned to Earth carrying experiments conducted aboard ISS. Later this winter, Orbital Sciences Corp. plans to carry out its first test flight under COTS.

Bolden also announced NASA partner Sierra Nevada Corp. has conducted its first milestone under the agency's recently announced Commercial Crew integrated Capability (CCiCap) initiative. The milestone, a program implementation plan review, marks an important first step in Sierra Nevada's efforts to develop a crew transportation system with its Dream Chaser spacecraft.

CCiCap is an initiative of NASA's Commercial Crew Program (CCP) and an Obama administration priority. The objective of the CCP is to facilitate the development of a U.S. commercial crew space transportation capability with the goal of achieving safe, reliable and cost-effective access to and from the space station and low Earth orbit. After the capability is matured, it is expected to be available to the government and other customers. NASA could contract to purchase commercial services to meet its station crew transportation needs later this decade.

While NASA works with U.S. industry partners to develop commercial spaceflight capabilities, the agency also is developing the Orion spacecraft and the Space Launch System (SLS), a crew capsule and heavy-lift rocket to provide an entirely new capability for human exploration. Designed to be flexible for launching spacecraft for crew and cargo missions, SLS and Orion will expand human presence beyond low Earth orbit and enable new missions of exploration across the solar system.

For more information about NASA's commercial space initiatives and programs, visit http://www.nasa.gov/commercial.

For more information about the present and future of American human spaceflight, visit http://www.nasa.gov/exploration.

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NASA Selects Launch Services Contract for Jason-3 Mission

Joshua Buck

Headquarters, Washington

202-358-1100

jbuck@nasa.gov

 

George H. Diller

Kennedy Space Center, Fla.

321-867-2468

george.h.diller@nasa.gov

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA has selected Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) of Hawthorne, Calif., to launch the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Jason-3 spacecraft in December 2014 aboard a Falcon 9 v1.0 rocket from Complex 4 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

The total value of the Jason-3 launch service is approximately $82 million. This estimated cost includes the task ordered launch service for the Falcon 9 v1.0, plus additional services under other contracts for payload processing, launch vehicle integration, mission-unique launch site ground support and tracking, data and telemetry services. NASA is the procurement agent for NOAA.

Jason-3 is an operational ocean altimetry mission designed to measure precisely sea surface height to monitor ocean circulation and sea level. Jason-3 will follow in the tradition of previous missions such as TOPEX/Poseidon, Jason-1 and the Ocean Surface Topography Mission/Jason-2. The Jason-3 mission will be developed and operated as part of an international effort led by NOAA and the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites in collaboration with NASA and the French space agency, Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales.

Processed data from the satellite will be used in a broad range of applications including operational ocean and weather forecasting, ocean wave modeling, hurricane intensification prediction, seasonal forecasting, El Nino and La Nina forecasting and climate research. The data will help address questions about global climate change.

The Launch Services Program at NASA's Kennedy Space Center is responsible for launch vehicle program management of the Jason-3 launch services.

For more information about NASA and its missions, visit http://www.nasa.gov.

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Air Force Officials Announce Milestone Atlas V Launch

By Amaani Lyle

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, June 20, 2012 – As part of the Defense Department’s ongoing efforts to maintain assured, affordable access to space through 2030, the Atlas V rocket successfully lifted off from Space Launch Complex-41 at Florida’s Cape Canaveral today, Air Force officials said.

“This is an exciting time for the U.S. space launch community, said Scott Correll, the program’s executive officer. “From today’s successful launch of the 50th EELV to the recent success of Space X’s support to NASA with their Falcon 9 it's clear the commercial space transportation industry is making notable strides.”

The EELV program replaced the existing fleet of launch systems with two families of launch vehicles -- the Boeing Delta IV and Lockheed Martin Atlas V -- built and operated by the DOD’s prime contractor, United Launch Alliance, Correll said.

An official from the Space and Missile Systems Center at Los Angeles Air Force Base explained that the Atlas V is a critical part of a spectrum of government missions.

“Atlas V launches space-based infrared systems, global positioning systems, the defense meteorological satellite program, and the advanced extremely-high frequency system satellites,” said Air Force Col. Bob Hodgkiss, director of the launch systems directorate. “I’m pleased to report that this year we have also already launched the wideband global sat-com IV aboard a Delta IV, and the Navy’s mobile user objective system satellite 1 aboard Atlas V.”

Because of considerable program costs, which can run as high as several billion dollars per launch, quality assurance and the development of a competitive market are paramount, Air Force officials said.

“Since the Air Force must by law self-indemnify, we do a very rigorous evaluation of the physical, electrical and radio frequency interfaces between the rocket, the satellite and the ground systems,” Hodgkiss said of the process to determine flight readiness. “My team is the government’s insurance policy, so we need to be sure we have the highest probability of success in one of the riskiest activities the Air Force does.”

On the business side of the program, Hodgkiss said, the program’s primary users, the Air Force, NASA, and the National Reconnaissance Office are developing strategies to infuse competition into space launch as a cost reduction measure.

“We are balancing the commitment we will make to ULA with the potential to reintroduce competition to the program when one or more commercial launch companies have demonstrated to the Air Force they are reliable launch providers,” the colonel said.

Correll asserts that certifying new entrants will potentially enable competition, thereby lowering costs and creating innovation in government payloads such as communications, navigation, weather satellites, and science and national security missions.

“The framework offers multiple paths to on-ramp potential new entrants and part of this strategy requires an entrant to demonstrate at least one launch of a vehicle configured as an EELV class national security space launch,” he said.

ULA's next launch and the NRO’s next mission, the Delta IV NROL-15, is scheduled for June 28.

“Our soldiers, sailors, Marines, airmen, Coast Guardsmen and intelligence community are dependent upon the warfighting capabilities we enable,” Correll said. “Our priority and focus remain mission success first while controlling costs in this constrained fiduciary environment.”

NASA Administrator Bolden Visits SpaceX Headquarters

Trent J. Perrotto

Headquarters, Washington

202-358-0321

trent.j.perrotto@nasa.gov

WASHINGTON -- NASA Administrator Charles Bolden visited SpaceX Headquarters in Hawthorne, Calif., Thursday, capping a tour of SpaceX facilities to thank employees for their part in making the first mission by a private company to the International Space Station a success.

Bolden and SpaceX CEO and Chief Designer Elon Musk addressed more than 1,000 employees who helped design, launch and safely recover the company's Dragon capsule in May following its trip to the space station.

"NASA has its sights set on reaching an asteroid and Mars and commercial space companies like SpaceX are helping make that possible by taking over the challenging transportation of cargo to low Earth orbit," Bolden said. "The International Space Station is the key to our human spaceflight efforts right now and SpaceX's successful resupply demonstration mission helped ensure it can achieve its full potential. We look forward to Dragon becoming a regular visitor to the station."

While on-site, Bolden had an opportunity to see the first Dragon spacecraft to be recovered by the company in December 2010, following a demonstration mission to orbit and safely return a capsule.

The trip to Hawthorne followed a visit by Bolden and Musk Wednesday to the SpaceX Rocket Development Facility in McGregor, Texas, where they viewed the most recently recovered Dragon capsule. The spacecraft splashed down in the Pacific Ocean May 31 following its 9-day mission to carry and return cargo to the space station.

Bolden also had the opportunity to view some of the 1,367 pounds of cargo the Dragon spacecraft returned to Earth. Dragon currently is the only spacecraft capable of returning a significant quantity of science experiments and cargo from the station. Experiments will be given back to researchers hoping to gain new insights provided by the station's unique microgravity environment. The cargo was transferred to NASA June 13 and will be taken to the agency's Johnson Space Center in Houston for further processing.

Dragon's journey to the station was SpaceX's second demonstration mission under NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) Program, which provides investments intended to lead to regular resupply missions to the space station and stimulate the commercial space industry in the United States.

Images of Bolden and Musk in Hawthorne and McGregor are available at http://go.nasa.gov/Ku0Ctq.

For more information about NASA's COTS Program and SpaceX, visit http://www.nasa.gov/spacex.

For more information about Administrator Bolden, visit http://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/bolden_bio.html.

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Bolden, Musk and the Dragon

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, left, congratulates SpaceX CEO and Chief Designer Elon Musk in front of the historic Dragon capsule that returned to Earth on May 31 following the first successful mission by a private company to carry supplies to the International Space Station.

Bolden and Musk also thanked the more than 150 SpaceX employees working at the McGregor facility for their role in the historic mission.

This image was taken on Wednesday, June 13, 2012 at the SpaceX facility in McGregor, Texas.

Image Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls