Boeing’s Chris Ferguson, who commanded the space shuttle’s last mission, took to the controls inside a CST-100 simulator in January to show NASA engineers that the software will allow a human to take control of the spacecraft at any point in a mission following the CST-100’s separation from its booster. Called a pilot-in-the-loop demonstration, the accomplishment was performed in Houston to mark a milestone for the company under its Commercial Crew integrated Capability contract with NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.
All four of NASA’s industry partners in the Commercial Crew Program are proceeding in the development of their own unique designs for spacecraft that could carry crews to low-Earth orbit. You can find out details about new milestones met during December and January here, plus what commercial achievements mean to the nation’s goal of returning humans to orbit on American spacecraft launched from U.S. soil.
CCP’s industry partners continue to make great strides as they design the next-generation of human spacecraft. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk released this photo yesterday of the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket that will launch the SpaceX-3 cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station. The unusual feature is the landing legs on the side of the rocket. According to Musk, they are 60 feet in diameter. He said the booster will still land in the ocean, but will attempt what’s known as a soft landing instead of simply plummeting as such stages have done until now. The exception is the space shuttle’s solid rocket boosters which parachuted into the water and were recovered for reuse. Musk has said before that his goal is to bring the spent first stage back to a soft landing on a runway or similar facility so the booster and its 9 engines can be used again. Musk ended his posts saying the company needs to prove precision control of the stage throughout the deceleration from hypersonic to subsonic speeds. There is no word whether this innovation is anticipated for crew-carrying missions as it is clearly early in the test phases of development.
Getting a spacecraft away from a rocket in a launch emergency is one of the toughest tasks handed to spacecraft designers and engineers. We talked in 2012 with some of the NASA managers, engineers and designers who were working through some of the challenges and potential solutions for Commercial Crew Program projects here. These systems will see critical tests coming up this year.
The CST-100 development team and NASA engineers recently accomplished a hardware review and software testing for a spacecraft designed to carry astronauts to low-Earth orbit. Separate, in-depth evaluations of the launch vehicle adapter that will connect Boeing’s CST-100 to the top of a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket and the detection system that would signal an abort during an emergency were performed. The CST-100, short for Crew Space Transportation, is one of several spacecraft under development by aerospace industry partners working with NASA’s Commercial Crew Program to establish crew transportation to low-Earth orbit from U.S. soil. You can read more details about the work here.
We are unveiling a new blog today to keep everyone up-to-date on the progress of development of America’s next generation of spacecraft capable of carrying astronauts into low-Earth orbit! You can come to this site for the latest videos, updates and photos from NASA and our industry partners who are working together in a new way to provide safe, reliable and cost-effective transportation into space. 2014 is big year for this effort and we plan to bring you all the excitement of flight and launch abort system tests while still providing the important details along the way. We’ll also share the stories of some of the people involved in this unique effort. So subscribe to our blog or check back often to see how CCP is progressing.