Posted on 01/14/2016 7:23:01 PM PST by BenLurkin
NASA has selected SpaceX, Orbital ATK and Sierra Nevada Corp. to fly cargo to the International Space Station (ISS) starting in 2019, the agency announced today (Jan 14).
Between 2019 and 2024, NASA will purchase a minimum of six uncrewed cargo missions from each of the three companies, agency officials said in a media briefing today. The space agency has the option to purchase additional re-supply missions from any of the three providers, and will likely do so, said Kirk Shireman, program manager for the ISS.
SpaceX and Orbital ATK were selected as cargo providers in NASA's first round of Commercial Resupply Services contracts, known as CRS1; both companies have flown multiple re-supply missions to the ISS using a capsule called Dragon (SpaceX) and a spacecraft named Cygnus (Orbital ATK).
(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...
That’s good. It screws Russia out of a bit of revenue.
Very cool that Sierra Nevada got something. They’ve come pretty far with their little space plane, it would be a shame for it to go nowhere.
Perhaps, but only until the Russians next generation of heavy lift comes on line (using totally new tech), far out striping the lift of anything on anyone in the US’s drawing boards currently. They will likely offer the engine cheaper as well, should they make it available for export. (The Dragon super heavy will not be able to compete in lift).
[snip] The deal adds Sierra Nevada’s Dream Chaser to the list of spacecraft flying cargo missions to the orbiting laboratory. Like NASA’s space shuttle, Dream Chaser is a reusable space plane. [/snip]
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