NASA and the Private Sector - Page 52

WASHINGTON — Rocket maker Space Exploration Technologies Corp. expects to earn certification from the U.S. Air Force to launch national security missions by the end of the year, but will not meet an ambitious Dec. 1 deadline suggested by the service’s top space officer, a company spokesman said.

In September Gen. John Hyten, commander of Air Force Space Command, said that under an aggressive schedule, SpaceX could earn certification for its Falcon 9 rocket by Dec. 1.

“SpaceX is working hand in hand with its partners at the Air Force to complete the certification process as soon as possible, with the goal of being completed before the end of the year,” John Taylor, a SpaceX spokesman, said in a Dec. 1 response to questions.

WASHINGTON — NASA will receive $18 billion for 2015, more than a half a billion dollars above the Obama administration’s original request, under the terms of an omnibus spending bill released late Dec. 9.

The appropriations bill, which funds NASA and most of the rest of the federal government for the remainder of the fiscal year that began Oct. 1, gives the agency $17.99 billion, including increases for several major exploration and science programs. That total is $530 million above the administration’s request of $17.46 billion for the agency, and about $100 million above separate House and Senate appropriations bills considered earlier this year. It’s also nearly $350 million above NASA’s enacted 2014 budget of $17.65 billion.

On December 14 2014 00:08 ShoCkeyy wrote:
http://spacenews.com/42682airbus-negotiating-spacex-launch-for-esa-supported-laser-relay-satellite/

More on that story if you want to know more information. I don't understand why they would be mad though. I'm guessing they wanted to keep it inside Europe, but SpaceX just has the money and support to do it with out issues (requirement from their policies). Especially when you're trying to put a satellite worth almost half a billion dollars into space with multiple investments behind it. SpaceX obviously the leading private company in terms of launches (I think?).

WASHINGTON — As Boeing begins work on its NASA commercial crew contract, the company is proposing to use a version of the same spacecraft to transport cargo to the international space station.

Company officials said in a Dec. 9 interview here that they submitted a proposal earlier this month for NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) 2 competition, a follow-on to the existing CRS contracts held by Orbital Sciences Corp. and Space Exploration Technologies Corp. to ferry cargo to and from the station.

The cargo version of Boeing’s CST-100 spacecraft will be based on the crewed version the company is developing for NASA, said John Mulholland, Boeing commercial crew program manager. Boeing will remove spacecraft components not needed for crew missions, like its launch abort system and environmental controls, to free up room in the spacecraft for cargo.

The cargo version of CST-100 would, like the crewed version, launch on a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket. The cargo version will also be able to return cargo to Earth, landing in the western United States like the crewed version.

That similarity between the two CST-100 versions is intended to improve the spacecraft’s overall economics. “It gives us a chance to use the launch vehicle and capsule that are being integrated for crew and get more missions out of it to help with affordability,” said John Elbon, vice president and general manager for space exploration at Boeing.

The CST-100’s ability to come down on land, versus splashing down in the ocean, will allow it to take advantage of a new element of the CRS2 procurement for the accelerated return of cargo from the ISS. In that optional portion of CRS2, cargo is handed over to NASA within three to six hours of landing instead of 24. “We’ll be able to get access to the science that’s coming down within an hour or so,” Elbon said.

Mulholland declined to specify how much cargo the CST-100 could carry to the ISS, but said it exceeds the minimum of 2,500 kilograms per mission required by NASA.

The private spaceflight company Boeing is on its way toward launching astronauts to space for NASA by 2017.

Boeing's ground support for NASA's Commercial Crew Program passed a critical test recently, its second milestone as part of the program. NASA took three weeks to examine the company's work at the former space shuttle processing facility at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, as well as a future mission control center.