Aug. 3, 2012
Trent J. Perrotto
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-0321
[email protected]
Candrea Thomas
Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
321-867-2468
[email protected]
RELEASE: 12-263
NASA ANNOUNCES NEXT STEPS IN EFFORT TO LAUNCH AMERICANS FROM U.S. SOIL
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA Friday announced new agreements with
three American commercial companies to design and develop the next
generation of U.S. human spaceflight capabilities, enabling a launch
of astronauts from U.S. soil in the next five years. Advances made by
these companies under newly signed Space Act Agreements through the
agency's Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap) initiative
are intended to ultimately lead to the availability of commercial
human spaceflight services for government and commercial customers.â?¬
CCiCap partners are:
-- Sierra Nevada Corporation, Louisville, Colo., $212.5 million
-- Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), Hawthorne, Calif., $440
million
-- The Boeing Company, Houston, $460 million
"Today, we are announcing another critical step toward launching our
astronauts from U.S. soil on space systems built by American
companies," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said at the agency's
Kennedy Space Center in Florida. "We have selected three companies
that will help keep us on track to end the outsourcing of human
spaceflight and create high-paying jobs in Florida and elsewhere
across the country."
CCiCap is an initiative of NASA's Commercial Crew Program (CCP) and an
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 International Space Station and
low Earth orbit. After the capability is matured and expected to be
available to the government and other customers, NASA could contract
to purchase commercial services to meet its station crew
transportation needs.
The new CCiCAP agreements follow two previous initiatives by NASA to
spur the development of transportation subsystems, and represent the
next phase of U.S. commercial human space transportation, in which
industry partners develop crew transportation capabilities as fully
integrated systems. Between now and May 31, 2014, NASA's partners
will perform tests and mature integrated designs. This would then set
the stage for a future activity that will launch crewed orbital
demonstration missions to low Earth orbit by the middle of the
decade.
"For 50 years American industry has helped NASA push boundaries,
enabling us to live, work and learn in the unique environment of
microgravity and low Earth orbit," said William Gerstenmaier,
associate administrator for the Human Exploration and Operations
Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "The benefits
to humanity from these endeavors are incalculable. We're counting on
the creativity of industry to provide the next generation of
transportation to low Earth orbit and expand human presence, making
space accessible and open for business."
While NASA works with U.S. industry partners to develop commercial
spaceflight capabilities to low Earth orbit, the agency also is
developing the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) 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 MPCV 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 Crew Program, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/commercialcrew
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