NASA today announced the final selection of crew transport to support the International Space Station. To date, NASA has failed to provide a dedicated crew rotation vehicle available to support the ISS. Various efforts to produce a vehicle capable of staying parked at the orbiting station had begun, but all fell victim to various budget cuts or program cancellations. When President Obama took office, one of the first programs he enacted for NASA was an effort to engage commercial launch vehicle operators and satellite manufacturers to build a crew vehicle to support the ISS. The announcement today brings the development and competition between these various manufacturers to a close.
The primary crew vehicle selected is the Boeing CST-100. Originally designed a decade ago for the Constellation program, the CST-100 was always the low-risk entry in the competition. Built upon decades-old, proven systems, Boeing purposefully chose the path of least risk, with the result being a standard capsule design built upon the old Apollo crew vehicle which brought mankind to the moon. While not the most thrilling or ambitious, the refusal to gamble has paid off for Boeing, which now will begin providing crew rotation service to the ISS beginning in 2017.
To ensure access, NASA also has selected a secondary, backup crew provider, the SpaceX Dragon V2. An all new design based loosely upon SpaceX’s cargo transport vehicle, the Dragon, the Dragon V2 is a highly ambitious, reusable vehicle design. As envisioned by SpaceX founder Elon Musk, the Dragon V2 is designed to be a versatile, multi-role vehicle, replacing the cargo Dragon as well as providing crew rotation. This also means that while Boeing requires a dedicated test launch, SpaceX can reduce its qualification cost by launching the Dragon V2 on a cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station – demonstrating one of the many ways in which SpaceX is improving the cost of space access.
There does remain a concern that should the Russians restrict crew access to the ISS through denial of seats on Soyuz or by cutting access to the main engines on the Atlas V launch vehicle, that the US would lack a suitable alternative before these vehicles come online. If this should happen, NASA does have one more ace up its sleeve, the Orion. Designed by NASA, the Orion is designed to be a deep space vehicle, able to handle missions to the Moon, Venus, or Mars. If needed, it can be pressed in to service to support the ISS, although that would be an expensive proposition with the Orion costing easily twice as much as both commercial crew vehicles due to the demands of multi-year missions. Simply put, Orion is overkill for a mission as simple as crew rotation to the space station. But should it prove necessary, it can fulfill the role until the commercial vehicles enter service. Orion is scheduled to make its debut flight this fall, and here is the first flight unit being moved for fueling before being mounted on to its launch vehicle.
.png){kind=icon}
Administrator
MOTM
