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HOUSTON - Two companies that are receiving NASA Commercial Orbital Transportation Services funds achieved significant milestones this month in their efforts to develop and demonstrate space cargo launch and delivery systems. Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) completed a preliminary design review for its first orbital demonstration mission. Rocketplane Kistler completed a system requirements review for its cargo services system. The two companies want to offer commercial delivery services for cargo, and possibly crews, to the International Space Station in the future. In August 2006, NASA and the companies signed Space Act Agreements that established a series of milestones and criteria for...

RESTON, VA -- Feb. 1, 2007 -- Transformational Space Corp. (t/Space) today announced it has signed a Space Act agreement with NASA to facilitate the company's development of affordable transportation of passengers and cargo to and from Earth orbit. Under the agreement, NASA will provide information about the agency's projected commercial demand for crew and cargo services to the International Space Station (ISS), as well as technical know-how regarding how commercial vehicles can rendezvous and dock with the ISS. The agency also will monitor t/Space's development program via quarterly meetings. "We applaud NASA for its innovative thinking on how to...

CRESCENT CITY, CA -- Aug. 4, 2005 -- A new space vehicle to carry crews to the International Space Station moved closer to realization yesterday when Transformational Space Corporation LLC tested its parachute landing system by dropping a replica into the Pacific Ocean. NASA chose Transformational Space Corp. ("t/Space") in September 2004, along with seven other aerospace companies, to develop concepts for the next generation of NASA vehicles. t/Space won a $6 million contract with a promise to go beyond paper design studies to actual hardware prototyping. Today's test focused on a proposed Crew Transfer Vehicle (CXV) to ferry astronauts...

RESTON, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 14, 2005--Three weeks of flight tests over the Mojave desert have demonstrated a breakthrough in how to safely launch future passenger-carrying rockets using a carrier aircraft. Transformational Space Corp. (t/Space) and Burt Rutan's Scaled Composites drop-tested dummy boosters from an aircraft using a technique that caused them to rotate towards vertical without requiring wings. This allows an aft-crossing trajectory in which the rocket crosses behind the aircraft, greatly enhancing safety. Previous air-launched rockets such as the X-15, Pegasus and SpaceShipOne crossed in front of the carrier aircraft using wings to turn themselves from horizontal flight to the...

Crew Transfer Vehicle (CXV) The t/Space Crew Transfer Vehicle (CXV) is an innovative spacecraft capable of carrying 4-6 crew to the International Space Station or other low Earth orbit destinations for less than $20 million per flight. Based on the Discoverer and Corona capsules, the CXV utilizes a proven re-entry design to maximize safety and survivability of the crew. The CXV is launched into space on a two-stage booster released from a carrier aircraft, which enhances safety, performance, and flexibility. Preliminary design of the CXV and launch system is under way as part of t/Space's "Concept Exploration and Refinement" contract...