The Good and the Not so Good

The Good:

In my May 28, 2012 post, I wrote about SpaceX’s successful launch of a cargo ship to the International Space Station (ISS). It was the first time a ship owned by a private citizen had visited the ISS, and now they may have an opportunity to expand into the manned space shuttle business.

On August 3, 2012, NASA announced three companies had been contracted to design and develop the next generation of crewed spacecraft under the umbrella of NASA’s Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap) initiative. NASA’s press release states the CCiCap’s objective is to facilitate the development of a U.S. commercial crew space transportation capability. Their goal is to achieve safe, reliable and cost-effective access to and from the International Space Station and low Earth orbit. The idea is that the technology, once developed, would be available to the government and private sector.

The three companies are:

• Sierra Nevada Corporation, Louisville, Colo., $212.5 million
• Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), Hawthorne, Calif., $440 million
• The Boeing Company, Houston, $460 million

According to NASA, these commercial partnerships have the potential to set the agency on a course to provide new transportation into space for its astronauts, while expanding human presence beyond low Earth orbit and enabling new missions of exploration across the solar system.

The Not so Good:

NASA is working on an in-house project called Morpheus, a vertical test bed demonstrating new green propellant propulsion systems and autonomous landing and hazard detection technology. It is a full spacecraft that will be capable of carrying 1100 pounds of cargo to the moon.

On Friday, August 3, 2012, NASA completed a successful tethered test flight at Kennedy Space Center.



It went so well that NASA decided to attempt a free flight with a Morpheus prototype on Thursday, August 9th. Unfortunately, the craft crashed about fifty feet from the launch site.



NASA says no one was injured, no property was damaged (besides the vehicle), and they have been able to recover significant data that will give them greater insight into the source of the problem.

I think both these events are of equal importance. I hope NASA doesn’t give up on Morpheus. This was a setback but no one was injured and to me, the fact that they are creating a homegrown spacecraft is huge. Also, since NASA has awarded some developmental contracts I have hope that the United States space effort is not dead.

Does anyone else think both these events are of equal importance?