Col. Dave Hook, 30th Operations Group Commander, comments on the X-37B landing at Vandenberg AFB on June 16th, 2012.
AUTHOR
Doug Messier
By Douglas Messier
Parabolic Arc Managing Editor
During a press conference this morning about a NASA-FAA agreement on commercial crew oversight, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden was asked about the agency’s plans for awarding the next phase of the program.
Bolden said the agency fully expects to announce the winners of the Commercial Crew integrated
Capability (CCiCap) round in mid-July. The awards, which will cover all aspects of commercial vehicle development, will last for 21 months.
WASHINGTON (FAA PR) – The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and NASA have signed a historic agreement to coordinate standards for commercial space travel of government and non-government astronauts to and from low-Earth orbit and the International Space Station (ISS). The two agencies will collaborate to expand efforts that provide a stable framework for the U.S. space industry, avoid conflicting requirements and multiple sets of standards, and advance both public and crew safety.
The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed by the two agencies establishes policy for operational missions to the space station. Commercial providers will be required to obtain a license from the FAA for public safety. Crew safety and mission assurance will be NASA’s responsibility. This approach allows both agencies to incorporate experience and lessons learned as progress is made.
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden
By Douglas Messier
Parabolic Arc Managing Editor
NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration announced an agreement this morning delineating responsibilities for regulating human missions to the International Space Station. Seeking to avoid overlapping and conflicting regulations, NASA will take responsibility for crew safety while the FAA will license launches to ensure the safety of the general public on the ground.
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and FAA Acting Administrator Michael Huerta held a press conference this morning to discuss the memorandum of understanding. They were joined by NASA Director of Commercial Spaceflight Development Phil McAlister and FAA Associate Administrator for Commercial Space Transportation George Nield.
Notes from the press conference are after the break.
This week on The Space Show with David Livingston…. 1. Monday, June 18, 2011 2-3:30 PM PDT (5-6:30 PM EDT, 4-5:30 PM CDT): We welcome the return of RICK SEARFOSS to the program. Rick is the commercial test astronaut for XCOR Aerospace Company. 2. Tuesday, June 19, 2012, 7-8:30 PM PDT (10-11:30 PM EDT, 9-10:30 PM CDT): We welcome retired astronaut WALT CUNNINGHAM to the program. Visit his website for […]
Chinese astronauts enter the Tiangong-1 space station.
By Douglas Messier
Parabolic Arc Managing Editor
While the Chinese celebrate the launch of a three-member crew to the Tiangong-1 space station, two former chairman of India’s space agency ISRO are looking on with both admiration and regret. As China’s program has moved slowly but steadily forward, India’s plans for human space missions have slipped from around 2016 into the early to mid-2020s.
India’s top space scientists praised China’s maiden mission of manned docking of its space lab even as New Delhi’s own human space flight programme seems to have lost momentum.
“It’s a wonderful thing that has happened,” ex-Chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation, U R Rao told PTI here. “Essentially, they are making sure that they are going ahead systematically with manned mission programme”. …
He said India has not started any manned mission programme at all. “We have to have much larger and much more powerful launch vehicle,” Rao said.
VIDEO CAPTION: ISS Update commentator Josh Byerly interviews Bruce Manners, NASA COTS Project Executive, about Orbital Sciences and the Cygnus rocket. Cygnus will deliver cargo to the International Space Station then return to Earth filled with trash for destructive entry like the Russian Progress resupply vehicle.
China performed its first human docking on Monday: China’s Shenzhou 9 space capsule — which launched Saturday carrying three astronauts, including the country’s first female spaceflier — linked up automatically with the unmanned Tiangong 1 space lab just after 2 p.m. Monday Beijing time (2 a.m. ET), according to CCTV. The only other countries to pull off an orbital docking with a manned spacecraft are the United States and then-Soviet […]