Commercial Space Transportation

Florida Spaceport Stakes Claim to Commercial Missions

The three American companies building next-generation spacecraft that NASA could call on to carry astronauts into orbit in the future will perform much of their work along Florida's Space Coast, home of the agency's Commercial Crew Program (CCP).
Advances made by these companies under newly signed Space Act Agreements (SAAs) through the agency's Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap) initiative are intended to lead to the availability of commercial human spaceflight services for government and commercial customers.‬
"Our commercial crew and cargo efforts are based on a simple but powerful principle," said NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden during the CCiCap announcement. "By investing in American companies and American ingenuity, we're spurring free-market competition to give taxpayers more bang for the buck while enabling NASA to do what we do best, reach for the heavens."
Throughout the next 21 months, Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) of Louisville, Colo., Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) of Hawthorne, Calif., and The Boeing Company of Houston will complete their spacecraft and launch vehicle designs, test their hardware, and then showcase how they would operate and manage missions from launch through orbit and landing. 

"We have selected three companies that will help keep us on track to end the outsourcing of human spaceflight and create high-paying jobs in Florida and elsewhere across the country," Bolden said.
The proposals submitted by these three companies include processing and launching from Kennedy or the center's adjacent Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS), which could equal new jobs along Florida's Space Coast.
"The KSC team has the human capital expertise, unique facilities and specialized equipment to propel the agency into the next phase of space exploration," said Kennedy Center Director Bob Cabana, "and the Commercial Crew Program is a key part of that."


Sierra Nevada Corporation

SNC will receive up to $212.5 million to further advance its Dream Chaser spacecraft, which resembles NASA's space shuttle but is smaller and based on improvements to the agency's HL-20 lifting-body design. 
During two previous development rounds with CCP, the company matured the spacecraft's guidance, navigation and control system and tested its hybrid propellant propulsion system. It also built an engineering test article for approach-and- landing tests that are scheduled for later this year as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Development Round 2 (CCDev2) agreement with the company.
SNC has partnered with United Launch Alliance (ULA) of Centennial, Colo., to launch its spacecraft atop an Atlas V rocket. As progress is made with SNC's spacecraft, ULA will be working to outfit its launch pad at CCAFS's Space Launch Complex-41 with the structures and systems necessary to support crewed missions, such as crew access walkways and emergency escape systems.
As the only lifting-body spacecraft under development for crew transportation, the Dream Chaser will utilize Kennedy's unique Shuttle Landing Facility for traditional runway landings.

Space Exploration Technologies 

SpaceX will receive up to $440 million for its crewed Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket combination. The next-generation Falcon rocket will feature the company's Merlin1D engine to provide greater lift capability to support the heavier weight of an astronaut crew plus cargo.
The uncrewed version of Dragon made history in May as the first commercially built spacecraft to rendezvous and then berth with the International Space Station.
SpaceX's mission control will be at its headquarters facility in Hawthorne, while launches will take place from Space Launch Complex-40 at CCAFS. The company is working to outfit its Dragon capsule with the capability to land on dry land, rather than the ocean's corrosive salt water, and a targeted landing site is still in work.
During the previous partnership with CCP, the company provided details about its side-mounted launch abort system that will employ SuperDraco engines as well as conceptual modifications to its launch pads to support crewed missions. The company also outlined crew living arrangements in its capsule, such as environmental control and life support equipment, initial displays and controls.