CAPE CANAVERAL, FL (Space Florida PR) – Craig Technologies announced today that the company is expanding its manufacturing capabilities by negotiating a loan for 1,600 pieces of Space Shuttle processing equipment from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.

Through a competitive Request for Information (RFI) process, the company signed a non-reimbursable Space Act Agreement with NASA giving the woman-owned, service-disabled veteran-owned firm full use privileges of the equipment currently housed at the 160,000 sq. ft. NASA Shuttle Logistics Depot (NSLD) in Cape Canaveral. The depot was once part of United Space Alliance’s Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) activities during the Shuttle Program.

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Former NASA Astronaut Ken Bowersox, who quit as SpaceX’s vice-president of Astronaut Safety and Mission Assurance late last year, is now advising ATK on how to human-rate its Liberty rocket.

SALT LAKE CITY, July 2, 2012 (ATK PR) — ATK and the Liberty program announced an independent assessment team and their first tasking to advise the company on development of its commercial human certification plan for the Liberty system, which includes the launch vehicle, upper stage, abort system, composite spacecraft, ground and mission operations, crew and passenger training and a test flight crew.

The FAA is authorized by Congress to regulate commercial human spaceflight. Over the next few years, the FAA will use a phased approach to regulating the crew and passenger safety of the emerging commercial human spaceflight industry. In the meantime, and in the absence of specific government human certification standards, the developers themselves must look to NASA and International Partner human spaceflight best practices and lessons learned to develop their own design and operations criteria. Developing the Liberty-specific commercial human certification plan early in the program ensures the system will be designed from the outset to ensure flight crew and passenger safety.

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By Douglas Messier
Parabolic Arc Managing Editor

DARPA has awarded six contracts for its Airborne Launch Assist Space Access (ALASA) program, which is designed to produce a rocket capable of launching a 100-pound satellite into low Earth orbit for less than $1 million. Winners include Virgin Galactic, Lockheed Martin, Boeing and Northrup Grumman.

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This week on The Space Show with Dr. David Livingston…. 1. Monday, July 2, 2012, 2-3:30 PM PDT (5-6:30 PM EDT, 4-5:30 PM CDT): MARK HEMPSELL of Reaction Engines returns for discussion and updates. 2. Tuesday, July 3, 2012, 7-8:30 PM PDT (10-11:30 PM EDT, 9-10:30 PM CDT): ROBERT ZIMMERMAN returns for space news and events updates. 3. Friday, July 6, 2012, 9:30-11 AM PDT (11:30- 1 PM CDT, 12:30PM-2:00 […]

The first space-bound Orion spacecraft at Michoud. (Credit: NASA)

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER (NASA PR) –– NASA’s Orion program reached a major milestone on June 28, 2012, when the first space-bound Orion crew capsule arrived at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Construction on the spacecraft was finished at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in Louisiana this week, and final outfitting and heat shield installation will take place at KSC.

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WhiteKnightTwo/SpaceShipTwo Flight Summary Flight: 88 / GF18 Date: 29 Jun 12 WK2 Flight Time: 1.1 hr. SS2 Flight Time: 13 minutes WK2 Pilot: Siebold WK2 CoPilot: Nichols WK2 FTE: Glaser SS2 Pilot: Stucky SS2 CoPilot: Mackay GS Crew: Tighe, Bassett, Knupp, Bourgeois, Jaster, Bozarth, Cassebeer, M. Fuchs, Verderame WK2 Objectives: SS2 release mission GF crew mission practice Results: All objectives achieved. SS2 Objectives: Strake evaluation Pilot familiarization Results: All objectives […]

While the American part of the International Space Station is largely complete, Russia is continuing work on expanding its capabilities. Below is a brief press release from Khrunichev website about a new module set for launch next year followed by a detailed description.

MOSCOW (Khrunichev PR) — In the Khrunichev Space Center, work is continuing for the flight of the multifunction products laboratory module (MLM) for the International Space Station.

To date, the docking port has been installed on the transition chamber….Equipment layouts for the board layout and the cable network have been installed inside the module. Tests on the temperature control system and the pneumatic hydraulic systems have been undertaken.

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ARLINGTON, Va., June 28, 2012 (ATK PR) — ATK completed its Liberty software technical interface meeting (TIM), which was held to support further development of the Liberty space transportation system under  the company’s Space Act Agreement (SAA) with NASA for the Commercial Crew Development Program.

The software TIM was conducted to evaluate Liberty’s software development plan with the NASA Liberty team. The plan governs the software process used by Liberty and its subcontractors throughout development, integration, test and flight.

“Understanding how your system will work together throughout the mission is critical in reducing risk and schedule delays,” said Kent Rominger, ATK Vice President and Program Manager for Liberty. “Holding this TIM provides us valuable insight into expertise provided by the NASA team and ensures there are no issues we are overlooking.”

The development of software is critical for understanding the entire system to support Liberty’s test flights. Unmanned test flights are scheduled for 2014 and 2015, followed by the first crewed flights in 2015 with Liberty astronauts.

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Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin. (Credit: A. Savin)

By Douglas Messier
Parabolic Arc Managing Editor

As I first reported back in February,  Russia is moving forward with the development of its own DARPA. Ruler-for-Life Vladimir Putin has sent a bill to the Duma to establish the Russian Foundation for Advanced Research Projects in the Defense Industry, which Wired has dubbed DARPASKI.

The establishment of the foundation will be overseen by hardline Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, whom Putin appointed last December as defense czar with the goal of cleaning up the corruption-prone defense and error-prone space sectors.

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