Florida Senator Bill Nelson

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Sen. Bill Nelson PR) – Not just tourism, but university classes in space are right around the corner.  That’s what came to light in testimony today at a U.S. Senate hearing on the looming commercial uses of space.

In fact, at least one well-known American university already has made a down payment on a Virgin Galactic flight.  That’s the company that just two weeks ago launched SpaceShip Two and completed its first rocket-powered flight.

“Purdue has a down payment on a spot on a Virgin Galactic science flight,” Dr. Steven Collicott testified at Thursday’s Senate hearing.  “ … And I do look forward to the day a potential Ph.D. student walks into my office and says, “Well, professor, I flew into space for my Master’s degree.  What do you have to offer?”

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Some morning highlights of the first day of the Next-generation Suborbital Researchers Conference 2013 here in Broomfield, Colo.: Addressing the group via video, NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver said NASA is not excluding the possibility that the Flight Opportunities program would fund human researchers on suborbital fights. Previously, NASA had said it would purchase flights for payloads but not for researchers to fly. Garver provided no details on precisely what […]

This week on The Space Show with David Livingston…. 1. Monday, June 3, 2013, 2-3:30 PM PDT (5-6:30 PM EDT, 4-5:30 PM CDT): We welcome back BRIAN SHIRO for Astronauts4Hire updates and call in reports from the Suborbital Research Conference underway in Broomfield, CO. 2. Tuesday, June 4 2013 2013, 7-8:30 PM PDT (10-11:30 PM EDT, 9-10:30 PM CDT): No show, personal day. 3. Friday, June 7: , 2013, 9:30-11 […]

I’m here at the Next-generation Suborbital Researchers Conference in Bloomfield, CO. I’ll be Tweeting the event, which runs through Wednesday, over @spacecom. Please follow Parabolic Arc on Facebook and Twitter.

In an effort to improve spaceflight safety in the industry, the FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation (AST) is updating an internal lessons learned database with plans to make it widely available, according to AST Chief Engineer Michael S. Kelly. AST is updating its STAR database, which has information about more than 5,600 orbital launches worldwide, Kelly said during a recent presentation to the FAA’s Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Commitee […]

The U.S. Air Force is moving ahead with two initiatives designed to make their launch ranges more user friendly and to facilitate partnerships with private sector and state entities, according to presentations given at a recent FAA Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee (COMSTAC) meeting.

A provision in the FY 2013 National Defense Authorization Act allows private-sector and non-federal contributions to and cost sharing for federal launch ranges, Maj. Justin Sutherland told attendees. “Contributions may include funds, services, equipment and requests for range support and services in DoD contractual requirements,” according to the presentation.

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Ed Hoffman, NASA’s chief Knowledge officer, and Lisa Colloredo, associate program manager for Commercial Crew Program at Kennedy, discuss the program’s formation and early results during the first “Masters with Masters” session. (Credit: NASA)

By Steven Siceloff
NASA’s Kennedy Space Center

NASA is on the verge of a dramatic and exciting era of spaceflight that will draw on private companies’ innovations in using the agency’s expertise to send astronauts into orbit, managers of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program told a group of employees at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Whether astronauts ultimately fly aboard a Boeing or SpaceX capsule or the winged Dream Chaser under development by Sierra Nevada Corporation – or all three – the steps that get to that point did not come about by accident, said Ed Mango, program manager of CCP.

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NASA astronaut Jack Fischer flies a simulated Sierra Nevada Corporation Dream Chaser landing in the Cockpit Motion Facility at NASA’s Langley Flight Research Center. (Credit: NASA/David C. Bowman)

By Joe Atkinson
NASA’s Langley Flight Research Center

Though U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. and recently minted NASA astronaut Jack Fischer hopes to go to space one day, he spent an entire day in May coming back to Earth.

Fischer was one of four astronauts who visited the Cockpit Motion Facility at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., May 15-17 to fly a simulation of the Dream Chaser, a lifting-body spacecraft developed by Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) of Colorado Springs, Colo. He was joined by fellow NASA astronauts Rex Walheim, Gregory Johnson and Scott Tingle.

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Shown is the integrated model at NASA’s Ames Research Center. The model is a 7 percent model of the Boeing CST-100 spacecraft, launch vehicle adaptor and launch vehicle. (Credit: Boeing)

HOUSTON (NASA PR) — The Boeing Company of Houston, a NASA Commercial Crew Program (CCP) partner, recently performed wind tunnel testing of its CST-100 spacecraft and integrated launch vehicle, the United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket. The testing is part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap) initiative, intended to make commercial human spaceflight services available for government and commercial customers.

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The Federal Aviation Administration’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation (AST) plans to issue a set of draft guidelines for the safe operations of human space flights later this year.

Randy Repcheck, deputy manager of AST’s Office Regulations and Analysis Division, said that after public comments are received on the draft document, the office will issue a set of final guidelines in 2014.

The regulations are being promulgated to protect passengers and crew members flying on the commercial space systems expected to begin flying in the next few years. The FAA may not propose bind regulations covering occupant safety until October 2015.

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