Mary-Louise Hoffman
Four contractors met with NASA throughout July to discuss updates on space capsules they are developing under a second round of the agency’s Commercial Crew Development competition.
NASA said Thursday it holds regular meetings with Boeing, Sierra Nevada Corp., SpaceX and Blue Origin to review the companies’ work on spacecraft systems and launch vehicles.
“These discussions capitalize on all the aspects of working as partners instead of working solely as a customer and supplier,” said Kathy Lueders, NASA manager for the Commercial Crew Program.
“We have a set of detailed criteria drawn up so we can adequately evaluate what they are doing and they can tell us where adjustments fit in with their system’s overall success,” Lueders added.
Boeing has completed design and risk assessments on its CST-100 capsule, while Sierra Nevada expects to finish a design cycle review of its Dream Chaser spacecraft in the coming weeks.
SpaceX is scheduled to evaluate ground systems for its Dragon V2 this month, and Blue Origin is set to assess its Space Vehicle susbsystems.
NASA aims to send astronauts to the International Space Station by the end of 2017 and could award multiple contracts for commercial crew taxi services.
