G10 Global Learns About NASA's New "Space Taxi" Initiative

Sept. 21, 2011 - PRLog -- This week NASA unveiled a plan that will allocate £1.01billion to private companies that will transport U.S. astronauts to the International Space Station and low Earth orbit. The program will provide funds to multiple companies, which must design and maintain a spacecraft, launch vehicles, launch services, ground and mission operations, and recovery. G10 Global says this is a significant step forward in the story of space exploration.

When NASA unveiled the 'Space Taxi' plan, administrator Charles Bolden said in a statement, "It's further evidence we are committed to fully implementing our plan to outsource our space station transportation so NASA can focus its energy and resources on deep space exploration." NASA retired its space shuttle fleet over the summer and the "space taxis" announced by NASA this week gives the agency a way for getting its astronauts to the ISS without having to rely on the Russians. The effort, known as Integrated Design Contract (IDC) "will bring us through the critical design phase to fully incorporate our human spaceflight safety requirements and NASA's International Space Station mission needs," said NASA Commercial Crew Program Manager Ed Mango. According to theweatherspace.com all NASA currently has is the Russian Soyuz project. The Soyuz spacecraft became the second-generation Soviet vehicle capable of carrying humans into space.  G10 Global understand the new initiative as NASA is paying the Russian space agency, Roscosmos, over £630million to fly Americans on the rockets over the next four years.

The Telegraph has reported that the US space agency will be looking for complete program to ferry astronauts to the International Space Station by the middle of the decade. The money will supplement investments that private companies are making to develop commercial space transportation services. President Obama has requested £540million for NASA's Commercial Crew initiative and the Senate Appropriations Committee offered £320million last week. NASA's commercial spaceflight development director, Phil McAlister, said at an industry briefing in Florida, "Every year we do not have a commercial crew capability, the station is at risk,'' he said.  The fact is, China is the only other country that has flown people in orbit but is not a member of the space station program so having only one option to get to a £63billion national lab is a big risk. G10 Global believe it was when a Russian cargo ship failed last month to reach orbit after a launch accident that the vulnerability of having only one way for crew to fly to the space station was exposed.

G10 Global knows that NASA expects to award multiple contracts for the third phase of its commercial crew development work next year. NASA is now supporting spaceship development by four firms -- Boeing, Space Exploration Technologies, Sierra Nevada Corp and Blue Origin, a privately funded aerospace company set up by Amazon's Jeff Bezos. The contracts are worth a combined £170 million so hopefully, alternative methods to taxi US astronauts to space will be completed in time.
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