Updates NASA Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap)

[Unstung]

In an article from July 22, Boeing allowed some journalists into the CST-100 and a representative discussed the company's manned spacecraft.

Ars Technica: "Ars hops in Boeing’s “commercial space” spaceship, the CST-100"

Boeing took the curtain off its proposed commercial spacecraft this morning, allowing a limited number of press and media into one of its Houston facilities to crawl around inside a high-fidelity mockup. The spacecraft, designated the CST-100 (for "Crew Space Transportation"), is a large capsule, resembling a scaled-up version of the iconic Apollo command module.
[...]

 

[Unstung]

Dream Chaser is using a skid as its front landing gear instead of a wheel.

 

[Kyle]

Dream Chaser completed captive-flight tests. Next up is automatic drop tests with a landing on the concrete runway.

 

[N_Molson]

The more I see that one, the more I like it

Can't wait to see it glide for good ! :jiggy:

 

[C3PO]

The more I see that one, the more I like it

Can't wait to see it glide for good ! :jiggy:

You're not alone there.

This design is actually pretty close to what NASA wanted the STS to look like before the military got involved.

 

[IronRain]

 

[Donamy]

looked like a hard lateral motion, on the right landing gear.

 

[orb]

NASA: Langley Tests Dream Chaser's Thermal Dynamics:

{...}

NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., recently conducted hypersonic testing of Dream Chaser models for SNC as part of the agency's Commercial Crew Program in order to obtain necessary data for the material selection and design of the TPS. SNC conducted wind tunnel tests to reduce risk and improve the reliability of the Dream Chaser TPS under milestone eight of the agency's Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap) initiative.

{...}

 

[orb]

The Space Review: Commercial crew prepares for its next phase

Aviation Week: RFP Nears For NASA CCiCap Second Phase:

Four years into its initiative to develop a U.S. commercial crew transportation system, NASA is nearing an inflexion point in the program as it fights potentially debilitating budget cuts while investing more to see the competitors through to the next stage.

The agency is poised to issue a request for proposals (RFP) for the second phase of development and certification under the Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap) program, as a step toward awarding Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap) contracts in mid-2014.

 

[orb]

NASASpaceflight: Dream Chaser preparing for drop test milestone:

Sierra Nevada Corporation’s Dream Chaser ETA (Engineering Test Article) is just days away from its first free flight milestone. The NASA Commercial Crew Program (CCP) candidate is now in final preparations for its drop test that will result in her conducting an automated approach and landing at the Dryden Flight Research Center in California.

{...}

 

[orb]

NASA: RELEASE 13-314 - NASA Partner SpaceX Completes Review of 2014 Commercial Crew Abort Test:

Oct. 24, 2013

In preparation for a summer 2014 test, NASA partner Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) recently laid out its plan to demonstrate the Dragon spacecraft's ability to carry astronauts to safety in the event of an in-flight emergency.

This review of the in-flight abort test plan provided an assessment of the Dragon's SuperDraco engines, the software that would issue the abort command, and the interface between the Dragon spacecraft and the Falcon 9 rocket on which the spacecraft will be launched.

{...}

 

[orb]

Space News: SNC: Mission Accomplished in Dream Chaser Test, Despite Crash Landing:

WASHINGTON — Despite a crash landing, a full-scale model of Sierra Nevada Corp.’s Dreamchaser — one of three spacecraft vying to take the space shuttle’s place as NASA’s means of flying astronauts to the international space station — may actually have performed well enough in an Oct. 26 test flight to clear a $15 million development milestone, according to a Sierra Nevada executive.

“The milestone was all about the flight worthiness of the vehicle and the data from the flight and the ability for us to autonomously control the flight in the air,” Mark Sirangelo, corporate vice president for Sierra Nevada Corp. (SNC) and chairman of Sierra Nevada Space Space Systems, told SpaceNews in an Oct. 28 phone interview. “The fact that the landing gear didn’t go down once we hit the ground ... was not actually part of the test.”

{...}

 

[orb]

NASA:

• RELEASE 13-337 - NASA Commercial Crew Partner SpaceX Achieves Milestone in Safety Review
  
  
• SpaceX Achieves Milestone in Safety Review

 

[orb]

Space News: Final Request for NASA Commercial Crew Proposals Hits the Street

Florida Today: 3, 2, 1, contract: NASA will soon select commercial builders

 

[RGClark]

Surprisingly, Elon Musk says the first manned test flight of the Falcon 9
could occur as early as next year(!)

What's Ahead for Human Rated SpaceX Dragon in 2014 - Musk tells Universe
Today.
by KEN KREMER on DECEMBER 30, 2013
http://www.universetoday.com/107505...cex-dragon-in-2014-musk-tells-universe-today/


Bob Clark

 

[Kyle]

That sounds about right actually, we've been hearing for about a year now that SpaceX plans to launch their own crews on a 3-day orbital test flight in late-2015 following the two abort tests scheduled for this year.

 

[Zachstar]

It is in SpaceX's best interest in my opinion to launch the manned version as soon as they legally and safely are able to.

Congress is so shortsighted that they can't seem to understand that funding this now means saving later and money being spent on US Jobs not 60+ million per seat to Russia. SpaceX needs a manned flight to remind them that.

 

[MaverickSawyer]

Dang, so soon? Can't wait to see the abort test.

 

[MattBaker]

I have to go with Zachstar there. The program got its cuts once and I could even imagine the Congress to stop this entirely. So deliever results and deliever them so fast that there are not that many new budgets that could take you down.
Now I don't know how an engineer concerned with safety would react to this but is that the first priority? Maybe not.

 

[N_Molson]

I'd like Elon Musk to perform SpaceX first manned flight