COMMERCIAL CARGO AND CREW DEVELOPMENT

Studies, plans, and discussions on what exactly would follow the Space Shuttle had circulated for years before the decision was finally made to retire the vehicles following the loss of Columbia in 2003. During these years the growth of commer­cial interest in developing a new launch system and spacecraft varied considerably but recently there have been a number of companies who have expressed interest in creating an American launch and crew/cargo transport system independent of NASA.

By 2010, in an effort to replace the Space Shuttle program for the transportation of crews and/or cargo to the ISS, NASA funded Space Act Agree­ments with five companies. The aim was to develop potential capabilities for launching American astronauts and supporting logistics into space from launch sites within the United States. A sixth company, ATK-EADS, was included as an unsolicited and unfunded proposal in May 2012. The development of a new American crew vehicle is conducted under NASA’s Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) Program.

The six were

• Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX)

• Orbital Sciences Corporation (Orbital)

• Blue Origin

• ATK-EADS

• Sierra Nevada Corporation, and

• The Boeing Company.

In addition, the American space agency signed agreements with Alliant Technologies Inc., Excalibur Almaz Inc., and United Launch Alliance, LLC for the exchange of technical information and expertise.