Dragon being berthed at the International Space Station. Illustration: NASA / SpaceX.

SPACEX PR — December 8 2011, marked the one year anniversary of Dragon’s first Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) demonstration flight.  The flight made history as SpaceX became the only commercial company to successfully return a spacecraft from orbit.  This feat had previously been accomplished only by five nations and the European Space Agency.

We are now preparing the Dragon spacecraft for yet  another historic flight – becoming the first commercial vehicle in history to visit the International Space Station (ISS)!

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Cygnus service module. (Credit: Orbital Sciences Corporation)

NASA PR — Both of NASA’s COTS partners continue to make technical progress toward developing and demonstrating their cargo transportation capabilities. However, schedules for their demonstration flights have been delayed from the original aggressive targets.

When NASA signed the original Space Act Agreement (SAA) with Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) in August 2006, their first, second and third COTS demonstration flights were planned for September 2008, June 2009 and September 2009 respectively. SpaceX successfully flew the first demonstration mission in December 2010, launching a Dragon capsule into orbit on a Falcon 9 rocket and recovering it off the coast of California.

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The Lurio Report FOR PRICING & SUBSCRIPTIONS: https://www.thelurioreport.com/subscribe.html SPECIAL ISSUE – NASA to Continue Using Space Act Agreements for Commercial Crew Efforts After All Vol. 6, No. 18, December 16, 2011 ================================= © Copyright 2011, Charles A. Lurio. All rights reserved. Quotations with proper citation are welcomed and encouraged. ================================= “A Small Step for Commercial Crew, a Giant Leap for Common Sense” That’s how Mike Gold of Bigelow Aerospace described […]

December 17, 2011

Dear Space Show Listeners:

Re:  Annual Fundraising Drive For 2011

Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, Happy Holidays and New Years to all of you. The Space Show and I personally wish you a terrific 2012 full of health, happiness, economic prosperity, and a peaceful world. I, like all of you, hope for a year of  significant and productive space development. The Space Show/OGLF is absolutely 100% committed to that long term outcome.

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Space Access Update #129  12/15/11
Copyright 2011 by Space Access Society

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UP AEROSPACE PR — (Denver, Colorado) — The U.S. Department of Defense Operational Responsive Space (ORS) office has selected March 7th 2012 for the launch of SpaceLoft-6. This will be the 6th launch of the SpaceLoft suborbital Reusable Launch Vehicle (sRLV) from Spaceport America and the 10th mission that UP Aerospace has conducted from the new spaceport in New Mexico since becoming operational in 2006. The sub-orbital mission is set […]

The New Mexico Spaceport Authority on Friday released two requests for proposals regarding space operations services and IT services for Spaceport America, which is located outside of Truth or Consequences.

Details follow after the break.

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CSF PR – Washington, DC  – The Commercial Spaceflight Federation congratulates NASA on the space agency’s important decision, announced today, to continue to use Space Act Agreements for the Commercial Crew Development Program. This decision will shorten the gap in U.S. access to space, help spur additional private investment, reduce America’s dependence on Russia, save taxpayer money, ensure the future of the International Space Station, and increase industry competition. Now that the Space Shuttle has retired, the Commercial Crew Program is the fastest way for America to regain our domestic access to space.

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Dream Chaser cockpit simulator. (Credit: Sierra Nevada Corporation)

NASA PR — NASA’s industry partners continue to demonstrate design and development progress for their commercial crew transportation systems. During the past two months, five more SAA milestones and one formal interim step for a future milestone were accomplished on the road to eventual commercial space transportation services. In total over the past eight months, NASA’s Commercial Crew Development Round 2 partners have completed 26 of the 62 milestones. (Five planned milestones were added since our last Return on Investment Report due to the new partnership with Excalibur Almaz, Inc.)

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Well, the House Republican strategy on NASA’s Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) program has finally crystallized as never before. It goes something like this:

If you can’t kill the program outright, underfund it to the point where NASA is forced (for reasons of safety, cost and schedule) to support only one vehicle. And to ensure safety on such a low budget, demand that the vehicle be built by the two competitors in partnership. And then ensure that one of those partners will be Boeing, which has its CCDev program office and 1,800 employees in….wait for it….Houston, in Republican dominated Texas.

Brilliantly cynical, stupidly Congress.

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