Posted on 08/24/2005 7:13:01 PM PDT by KevinDavis
It takes all kinds of spacecraft to reach orbit and a NASA contractor is working to build three more.
Houston, Texas-based Spacehab, known for its laboratory modules and other hardware that ride aboard NASA’s space shuttles, is developing a trio of ever-larger vehicles to make up its Apex spacecraft family.
“Apex is our opportunity to have a full, end-to-end commercial [space] service,” said Michael Bain, the firm’s chief operating officer, in an interview.
Spacehab engineers are currently hammering out specifications for their Apex 100, 300 and 400 series spacecraft, which they hope will provide a flexible range of services for spaceflight customers and attract NASA’s eye for space station resupply. Current plans call only for unmanned craft, but a human-rated version could be developed later if the market warrants it, they said.
(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...
I would like to see SpaceHab working on the new Moon, Mars and Beyond mission requirements. Part of that would be a new space station designed for assembly of manned deep space and moon missions.
Same here.. They have the tech know how....
a perhaps useful sidebar, from the Wayback Machine, a page from Beal Aerospace' old website (Andrew Beal is/was on the X-Prize committee after BA folded):
http://web.archive.org/web/20000817002608/http://www.bealaerospace.com/enginecomparisonchart2.htm
Old Space dot com story about the test of the 810,000 lb thrust BA engine, complete with a test photo:
http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/business/beal_firing_000306.html
remarkably, Beal Aerospace went from founding in 1997 to this test in 2000.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.