Can’t get enough of Aerojet Rocketdyne’s hot-fire test of one of the RL10 engines that will power the Centaur upper stage, the Starliner and its crew to the International Space Station for the Crew Flight Test? Watch the engine roar to life and read more about the test, at http://go.nasa.gov/2aZ2XPN.
As always, you can learn more about the Commercial Crew Program, at www.nasa.gov/commercialcrew.
Three NASA astronauts, including two training for flight tests aboard Commercial Crew Program spacecraft, toured the Aerojet Rocketdyne facility in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Friday and watched as an RL10 engine was successfully test-fired. The engine, which burns hydrogen and oxygen to produce 22,300 pounds of thrust, has been used for numerous NASA missions to send satellites into their correct orbits and to loft planetary probes into the solar system. The engine has never been used for human spaceflight, though.
That is slated to change because the engine tested in West Palm Beach is one of two slated to power the United Launch Alliance Atlas V Centaur upper stage being built for the Crewed Flight Test of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft that will fly for Commercial Crew. Read the details of the tour and testing, as well as some of the thoughts of the astronauts: http://go.nasa.gov/2aZ2XPN Photos credit: NASA/Dimitri Gerondidakis
Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station looks different today after workers attached the Crew Access Arm and White Room to the Crew Access Tower. The work at the launch pad was done in preparation for missions to the International Space Station by astronauts aboard Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner. The addition completes major construction of the tower which was added to the launch pad specifically so astronauts could board the Starliner on launch day. The arm, a 50-foot-long, 90,000-pound structure, will provide a bridge from the tower to the hatch of the spacecraft as it stands atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.
Although the launch pad and Atlas V have launched many missions including some of NASA’s landmark exploration spacecraft, astronauts have never left the planet from that launch pad on an Atlas V. The companies are working with NASA’s Commercial Crew Program to change that and to restore America’s capability to launch astronauts to the station from Florida’s Space Coast. Read more about today’s progress in our feature at http://go.nasa.gov/2aP3ALQ Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
A 50-foot-long, 90,000-pound bridge to space known as the Crew Access Arm was installed today at Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station adjacent to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Workers have been modifying the launch pad so astronauts can climb aboard Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft ahead of NASA Commercial Crew Program missions to the International Space Station.
When poised for space on launch day, the Starliner will be standing atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. The arm and a White Room were attached to the Crew Access Tower, a 200-foot-tall structure at the launch pad that has been built specifically for the unique needs of astronauts. For example, crews wearing pressure suits and helmets need more room to move around than people wearing regular clothes, so the areas and elevators are wide enough to accommodate them. There also was special care to avoid anything that could snag a spacesuit.
The construction by ULA has taken place even as the pad has remained active for launches of the Atlas V on missions to deliver satellites into orbit and to loft NASA spacecraft on their own missions, including September’s launch of the OSIRIS-REx asteroid sampling spacecraft.
The arm’s placement is the latest in a growing list of accomplishments for the Commercial Crew Program and its partners as NASA works to restore America’s capability to launch astronauts to the space station from its own soil. With Boeing’s Starliner and SpaceX’s Crew Dragon flying astronauts to the station, the crew there can grow to seven residents and the amount of science time available for astronauts will double. That means enhanced research opportunities to figure out the mysteries of long-duration spaceflight as well as more time to work on aspects of life on Earth that can be improved with the help of science performed in space.
“You have to stop and celebrate these moments in the craziness of all the things we do,” said Kathy Lueders, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. “It’s going to be so cool when our astronauts are walking out across this access arm to get on the spacecraft and go to the space station.”
Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
A new Crew Access Arm and White Room built for the next generation of human-rated spacecraft is headed to Space Launch Complex 41 today, passing by the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida along the way. Weighing about 90,000 pounds and reaching almost 50 feet, the arm and white room were hauled from a construction yard in Oak Hill, where the structure was built and its mechanisms tested, through Kennedy. The arm will provide a vital bridge from the Crew Access Tower at SLC-41 to Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner as it stands on the launch pad atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. Crew members will cross the arm and prep in the White Room before climbing through the Starliner’s hatch and getting into place for liftoff on Commercial Crew Program missions carrying astronauts to the International Space Station to conduct research in orbit.
Boeing and United Launch Alliance designed and built the arm and White Room based on their unique design and lessons learned from NASA’s more than 50 years of spaceflight. Today’s move will conclude at the base of SLC-41, then the arm is targeted to be lifted into place Saturday. The arm is fitted with several systems ranging from electrical cables, data lines and lighting to water pipes. Engineers have spent months testing the components including the machinery that will swing the arm between the spacecraft and tower. Photo credit: NASA/Michelle Stone
When you crack open your books for school, keep your place with Commercial Crew Program bookmarks. Download and print them out today!
Combined: http://go.nasa.gov/2bj0goZ
Boeing: http://go.nasa.gov/2bj2fd1
SpaceX: http://go.nasa.gov/2bj1Wz7
NASA’s Commercial Crew Program placed an order for the second operational mission to carry astronauts to the International Space Station aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft. The order means that eight vehicles are now in different levels of planning for Commercial Crew flight tests and operational missions by SpaceX and by Boeing, which also is developing the CST-100 Starliner spacecraft for human-rated missions to the space station. The eight missions in process are:
The order was placed now because of the long lead time to build a spacecraft, test it and process it for launch.
“The order of a second crew rotation mission from SpaceX, paired with the two ordered from Boeing will help ensure reliable access to the station on American spacecraft and rockets,” said Kathy Lueders, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. “These systems will ensure reliable U.S. crew rotation services to the station, and will serve as a lifeboat for the space station for up to seven months.”
This is the fourth and final guaranteed order NASA will make under the Commercial Crew Transportation Capability contracts. Boeing received its two orders in May and December of 2015, and SpaceX received its first order in November 2015. Both companies have started planning for, building and testing the necessary hardware and assets to carry out their first flight tests, and ultimately missions for the agency. NASA will identify at a later time which company will fly the first post-certification mission to the space station.
Sierra Nevada Corporation’s Dream Chaser spacecraft will soon be shipped to California to begin its second phase of free-flight testing in partnership with NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. Dream Chaser is a lifting body design that utilizes short winglets to fly back to Earth in a manner akin to NASA’s space shuttles. The same full-scale Dream Chaser engineering test article that performed the first free-flight at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in California in October 2013 has been rebuilt and upgraded to perform the second set of tests. The evaluation will culminate with the test article carried high above the runways at Edwards Air Force Base, adjacent to Armstrong.
Without anyone aboard, the Dream Chaser will be released to glide on its own and land. The test, expected at the end of 2016, will evaluate the Dream Chaser’s systems as outlined in the companies’ Commercial Crew Integrated Capabilities Space Act Agreement with NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. The information gathered during the test will be used to advance the Dream Chaser cargo vehicle tailored to carry equipment, experiments and supplies to the International Space Station, under the agency’s second cargo resupply services contract.
“These tests are significant for us in multiple ways: building on our previous flight test, completing a significant milestone under our CCP agreement, as well as gathering crucial data that will help complete the design of the vehicle being built for our CRS-2 contract,” said Mark Sirangelo, corporate vice president of SNC’s Space Systems business area.
Inside of Boeing’s Commercial Crew and Cargo Processing Facility is a full-size mock-up of the company’s CST-100 Starliner, a spacecraft under development in collaboration with NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. The mock-up is more than just for looks as it makes the CAD drawing, or computer-aided design, of the vehicle a tangible reality. It also allows engineers, like Boeing’s Melanie Weber, to have a physical model to test and validate the design of the spacecraft for astronauts and cargo.
Weber has worked on the Starliner for 5 years and supports many elements of the interior design of the spacecraft including crew safety and protection. When the Starliner spacecraft launches on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 with astronauts headed for the International Space Station, Weber knows where her thoughts will be.
“The whole time I’ll be thinking about the crew,” said Weber. “Our team will have done everything we can to make sure that they arrive safely, and that they have a nice ride too.”
Learn more about how the Commercial Crew Program here: www.nasa.gov/commercialcrew
Jon Cowart is part of a team helping to lead the nation’s effort to facilitate the development and certification of commercial spacecraft to enable the safe, reliable and cost-effective transportation of humans to and from the International Space Station.
In his key role as a mission manager in NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, he will guide the agency’s mission-related activities at Kennedy Space Center in Florida when astronauts are ready to fly to the International Space Station aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft.
Learn more about how Cowart will help Launch America’s new generation of human-rated spacecraft at http://go.nasa.gov/2amjD2V.
