Aug 23, 2012

Candrea Thomas Kennedy Space Center, Fla 321-867-2468 candrea k thomas@nasa gov

David Weaver Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1600 david s weaver@nasa gov

RELEASE: 12-293

NASA ADMINISTRATOR ANNOUNCES NEW COMMERCIAL CREW AND CARGO MILESTONES

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla -- NASA Administrator Charles Bolden announced Thursday new milestones in the nation's commercial space initiatives from the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida The latest advances made by NASA's commercial space partners pave the way for the first contracted flight of cargo to the International Space Station (ISS) this fall and mark progress toward a launch of astronauts from U S soil in the next five years

Bolden announced Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) has completed its Space Act Agreement with NASA for Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) SpaceX is scheduled to launch the first of its 12 contracted cargo flights to the space station from Cape Canaveral in October, under NASA's Commercial Resupply Services Program

"We're working to open a new frontier for commercial opportunities in space and create job opportunities right here in Florida and across the United States," Bolden said "And we're working to in-source the work that is currently being done elsewhere and bring it right back here to the U S where it belongs "

Through the COTS program, NASA provides investments to stimulate the American commercial space industry As part of its COTS partnership, SpaceX became the first commercial company to resupply the space station in May, successfully launching its Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft to the orbiting complex During the historic mission, the Dragon was captured by astronauts using the station's robot arm, unloaded and safely returned to Earth carrying experiments conducted aboard ISS Later this winter, Orbital Sciences Corp plans to carry out its first test flight under COTS

Bolden also announced NASA partner Sierra Nevada Corp has conducted its first milestone under the agency's recently announced Commercial Crew integrated Capability (CCiCap) initiative The milestone, a program implementation plan review, marks an important first step in Sierra Nevada's efforts to develop a crew transportation system with its Dream Chaser spacecraft

CCiCap is an initiative of NASA's Commercial Crew Program (CCP) and an Obama administration priority The objective of the CCP is to facilitate the development of a U S commercial crew space transportation capability with the goal of achieving safe, reliable and cost-effective access to and from the space station and low Earth orbit After the capability is matured, it is expected to be available to the government and other customers NASA could contract to purchase commercial services to meet its station crew transportation needs later this decade

While NASA works with U S industry partners to develop commercial spaceflight capabilities, the agency also is developing the Orion spacecraft and the Space Launch System (SLS), a crew capsule and heavy-lift rocket to provide an entirely new capability for human exploration Designed to be flexible for launching spacecraft for crew and cargo missions, SLS and Orion will expand human presence beyond low Earth orbit and enable new missions of exploration across the solar system

For more information about NASA's commercial space initiatives and programs, visit:

http://www nasa gov/commercial

For more information about the present and future of American human spaceflight, visit:

http://www nasa gov/exploration

-end-

To subscribe to the list, send a message to: ksc-subscribe@newsletters nasa gov To remove your address from the list, send a message to: ksc-unsubscribe@newsletters nasa gov

The following information is a reminder of your current mailing list subscription:

You are subscribed to the following list: [list_name]

using the following email: example@example.com

You may automatically unsubscribe from this list at any time by visiting the following URL:

https://aus-city com/cgi-bin/dada/mail cgi/u/STS_ISS_STATUS/example/example com/

If the above URL is inoperable, make sure that you have copied the entire address Some mail readers will wrap a long URL and thus break this automatic unsubscribe mechanism

You may also change your subscription by visiting this list's main screen:

<[program_url]/list/[list]>

If you're still having trouble, please contact the list owner at:

<mailto:[list_owner_email]>

The following physical address is associated with this mailing list:

[physical_address]