NASA placed its first order for a commercial crew mission from SpaceX the private spaceflight business based in California.
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NASA guarantees it will make no less than four orders from both companies for manned missions to the ISS, according to the contracts.
At this time, NASA did not announce what company will fly the mission, but the government agency did confirm the use of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft. The Boeing Company of Houston received its first crew mission order in May.
Boeing will eventually send astronauts to the ISS aboard its CST-100 Starliner spacecraft.
NASA’s Commercial Crew Program administered the CCtCap contracts and is now operational with each company guaranteeing commercial transportation system designs.
SpaceX will carry out the mission with its Crew Dragon spacecraft.
The flight is one of two guaranteed missions that SpaceX secured the rights to in a 2014 contract with NASA.
“It’s really exciting to see SpaceX and Boeing with hardware in flow for their first crew rotation missions”, said Kathy Lueders, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. But it was a bit of relaxation for SpaceX, as it has faced a severe accident in June in which its Falcon 9 rocket fell apart.
The SpaceX commercial crew mission is slated for late 2017 however, there is still no exact date for the launch.
One of the main problem, Martin writes, is that NASA still doesn’t know much about the environment astronauts will inhabit once they’re on Mars: “One of the major factors limiting more timely development of countermeasures is uncertainty about the mass, volume, and weight requirements of deep space vehicles and habitats”. These missions are likely to be launched in 2018. NASA broadcasted that the tycoon’s SpaceX Company was going to receive a crucial NASA contract to ship astronauts to and from the worldwide Space Station (ISS).
A standard commercial crew mission to the station will carry up to four NASA or NASA-sponsored crew members and about 220 pounds of pressurized cargo. We also found that NASA can not accurately report the true costs of developing countermeasures for the identified risks. The Crew Dragon is expected to dock at the space station for a period of 210 days that will also serve as an emergency escape vehicle. He is therefore very proud that SpaceX has been chosen by NASA to take astronauts to the worldwide Space Station.
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“Over the long term, it also sets the foundation for scientific access to future commercial research platforms in low Earth orbit”, Robinson added.
