International Space Station (ISS) Program managers are continuing with precautionary preparations for station operations without the presence of on-board crewmembers, in the event that a de-crewing of the ISS is needed should Russia be unable to return the Soyuz booster to flight by mid-November.

Negotiations between the numerous International Space Station (ISS) partners are starting to result in an exciting 2012 manifest, as Agency vehicles play tag team with new commercial resupply craft. From a Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) standpoint, three – or four, if the C2/C3 demo slips to 2012 – SpaceX Dragon flights are set to head [...]

NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) have recommended that NASA personnel embedded at commercial companies should be rotated, in order to avoid them “going native”, which they fear threatens rule bending as the teams’ working relationship becomes closer over time. Meanwhile, SpaceX are waiting on decision to see if they can combine their next two [...]

With the Space Shuttle Program now an element of NASA’s past, the U.S. agency is pressing forward with evaluations on how best to make use of the floor space at Mission Control Center Houston now that a major element of the agency’s focus for the past 30+ years has been retired.

The company made famous in the space flight industry for their giant Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs) have put their hat into the ring for potentially carrying NASA astronauts to Low Earth Orbit (LEO) via their Liberty launch vehicle. Looking very much like the cancelled Ares I – Liberty will use a five segment booster with [...]

International Space Station (ISS) Program managers are working to re-align resupply and crew rotation manifests following last week’s launch failure of the Progress M-12M/44P spacecraft. The failure of the Soyuz-U booster’s third stage grounded both the Soyuz-U rockets used to launch cargo, and the Soyuz-FG rockets used to launch crews, since both rockets share very [...]

While Russian engineers continue to investigate the failure of their Progress M-12M, which crashed in Eastern Russia on Wednesday, half a world away Orbital welcomed their first pressurized cargo module (PCM) for its Cygnus cargo logistics spacecraft at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, in preparation for leading the charge of America’s own commercial cargo [...]

International Space Station (ISS) program managers at NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC) have completed the Flight Readiness Review (FRR) for the upcoming ISS Expedition 29 on Wednesday. The FRR included a thorough review of all aspects of the Expedition 29 increment, the conclusion of which resulted in all groups issuing a Certification of Flight Readiness (CoFR) [...]

In what will be a major milestone, not only for SpaceX, but for the entire space program, International Space Station (ISS) teams are working through the long list of safety requirements to approve Dragon’s debut ‘test’ mission to the orbital outpost. Several specific areas of interest are in work, including ongoing evaluations into the potential [...]

NASA’s Human Architecture Team (HAT) is actively working on a roadmap towards evolvable demonstrations of Propellant Depots – with a potential goal of setting up an “interplanetary highway” to enable low cost exploration. With proposals being sought, industry sources point to a small, 30 metric ton capacity, Centaur derived depot as an initial leading candidate.

The United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V has once again found itself a new passenger, this time via the selection by Boeing to launch its CST-100 capsule as part of their Commercial Crew Development (CCDev-2) proposal. Providing NASA downselects Boeing’s vehicle for commercial missions to the ISS, CST-100 will debut in 2015, following two test [...]

NASA’s key Commercial Crew Development (CCDev-2) drive appears to be progressing to plan, as four companies press on with the development of their manned vehicles, with an aim to transport crews to the International Space Station (ISS) by the middle of this decade – aided by Agency money, whilst allowing for the key oversight from [...]

Adding to the long list that is her legacy, Atlantis’ successful final test of Neptec’s TriDAR rendezvous and docking system has resulted in Orbital completing a deal to use high tech sensors on their Cygnus spacecraft. With the orbiter’s also testing DragonEye for SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft, the two commercial vehicles will “Tally Ho” the ISS [...]

NASA and United Launch Alliance (ULA) have announced an agreement for technical support via NASA’s Commercial Crew Program focusing on the human rating of the Atlas V launch vehicle. The unfunded act is expected to result in certifying Atlas V to launch NASA astronauts riding in vehicles such as the Dream Chaser, Boeing CST-100 and [...]

With Discovery now enjoying a month-long vacation inside the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), following her rollover on Wednesday, the long-term future for the Orbiter Processing Facilities (OPFs) will be heavily focused on attracting the new fleet of commercial vehicles, as the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) transitions into a multi-purpose spaceport.

NASA HQ appear to be closing in on a decision to combine the second and third of three planned Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) demonstration flights (C2 and C3) of SpaceX’s Dragon capsule. Internal schedules, presentations and memos are continuing to point towards a working plan for a preliminary November 30 launch date for the [...]

NASA has awarded four Space Act Agreements in the second round of the agency’s Commercial Crew Development (CCDev-2), a commercial effort aimed to foster domestic crew transportation by the middle of the decade. The winners – ranging from lifting body to capsule spacecrafts – were Blue Origin, Sierra Nevada Corporation, Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) and [...]

International Space Station Program (ISSP) managers at NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston held a two-day meeting this week to discuss the prospect of adding a Bigelow Aerospace inflatable module to the ISS. The Technical Interchange Meeting (TIM) ran on Wednesday 12th and Thursday 13th January.

As NASA enters 2011, preparations are underway for an exciting new venture in space operations with the development of commercial transportation services to the International Space Station, the creation of a 21st Century launch facility at KSC, and development of a new Heavy Lift Launch Vehicle for NASA - all as the U.S. and world space [...]