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Development Of The Commercial Crew Program
Development of the Commercial Crew Program (CCDev) began in the second round of the program, which was rescoped from a smaller technology development program for human spaceflight to a competitive development program that would produce the spacecraft to be used to provide crew transportation services to and from the International Space Station (ISS). To implement the program, NASA awarded a series of competitive fixed-price contracts to private vendors starting in 2011. Operational contracts to fly astronauts were awarded in September 2014 to SpaceX and Boeing, and NASA expected each company to complete development and achieve crew rating in 2017. Each company performed an uncrewed orbital test flight in 2019. SpaceX's Crew Dragon Demo-1 2019 flight of Dragon 2 arrived at the International Space Station in March 2019 and returned via splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean. After completion of its test series, a Crew Dragon spacecraft made its first operational Commercial Crew Progra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boeing CST-100 Starliner
The Boeing Starliner (or CST-100) is a spacecraft designed to transport crew to and from the International Space Station (ISS) and other low-Earth-orbit destinations. Developed by Boeing under NASA's Commercial Crew Program (CCP), it consists of a Reusable spacecraft, reusable crew Space capsule, capsule and an expendable service module. Slightly larger than the Apollo command and service module#Command module (CM), Apollo command module or SpaceX Dragon 2#Crew Dragon, SpaceX Crew Dragon, but smaller than the Orion (spacecraft), Orion capsule, the Starliner can accommodate a crew of up to seven, though NASA plans to fly no more than four. It can remain docked to the ISS for up to seven months and is launched on an Atlas V#N22, Atlas V N22 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Launch Complex 41 in Florida. In 2014, NASA awarded Boeing a US$4.2 billion fixed-price contract to develop and operate Starliner, while SpaceX received $2.6 billion to develop and operate Crew Dragon. By ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pressure Vessel
A pressure vessel is a container designed to hold gases or liquids at a pressure substantially different from the ambient pressure. Construction methods and materials may be chosen to suit the pressure application, and will depend on the size of the vessel, the contents, working pressure, mass constraints, and the number of items required. Pressure vessels can be dangerous, and fatal accidents have occurred in the history of their development and operation. Consequently, pressure vessel design, manufacture, and operation are regulated by engineering authorities backed by legislation. For these reasons, the definition of a pressure vessel varies from country to country. The design involves parameters such as maximum safe operating pressure and temperature, safety factor, corrosion allowance and minimum design temperature (for brittle fracture). Construction is tested using nondestructive testing, such as ultrasonic testing, radiography, and pressure tests. Hydrostatic pressure t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Launch Escape System
A launch escape system (LES) or launch abort system (LAS) is a crew-safety system connected to a space capsule. It is used in the event of a critical emergency to quickly separate the capsule from its launch vehicle in case of an emergency requiring the abort of the launch, such as an impending explosion. The LES is typically controlled by a combination of automatic rocket failure detection, and a manual activation for the crew commander's use. The LES may be used while the launch vehicle is on the launch pad, or during its ascent. Such systems are usually of three types: *A solid-fueled rocket, mounted above the capsule on a tower, which delivers a relatively large thrust for a brief period of time to send the capsule a safe distance away from the launch vehicle, at which point the capsule's parachute recovery system can be used for a safe landing on ground or water. The escape tower and rocket are jettisoned from the space vehicle in a normal flight at the point where it is eit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blue Origin
Blue Origin Enterprises, L.P. is an American space technology company headquartered in Kent, Washington. The company operates the suborbital New Shepard rocket and the heavy-lift New Glenn rocket. In addition to producing engines for its own rockets, Blue Origin supplies engines for other vehicles, including United Launch Alliance's Vulcan Centaur. It is also working on the Blue Moon (spacecraft), Blue Moon human lunar lander for NASA's Artemis program, the Blue Ring spacecraft platform, and the Orbital Reef space station in partnership with other organizations. Founded in 2000 by Jeff Bezos, Blue Origin initially operated with a stealth startup, very low profile, funded by Bezos's private investments. In 2015, the company achieved a significant milestone with the first uncrewed launch and landing of the New Shepard and announced plans for New Glenn. In 2021, New Shepard completed its first crewed mission with Bezos himself on board, crossing the Kármán line, the conventiona ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Commercial Orbital Transportation Services
Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) was a NASA program to spur the development of Private spaceflight, private spacecraft and launch vehicles for deliveries to the International Space Station (ISS). Launched in 2006, COTS successfully concluded in 2013 after completing all demonstration flights. NASA's final report on the program considered it a success and a model for future public-private collaboration. Compared to traditional cost-plus contracts employed by NASA, such as the $12 billion contract for the Orion (spacecraft), Orion spacecraft, the $800 million COTS investment resulted in "two new U.S. Medium-lift launch vehicle, medium-class launch vehicles and two automated cargo spacecraft". After the conclusion of the COTS program, NASA shifted towards Fixed-price contract, fixed-price contracts for crew and cargo services. While the approach has significantly lowered costs for NASA, companies other than SpaceX have struggled under the fixed-price system, with som ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Space
Space is a three-dimensional continuum containing positions and directions. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions. Modern physicists usually consider it, with time, to be part of a boundless four-dimensional continuum known as '' spacetime''. The concept of space is considered to be of fundamental importance to an understanding of the physical universe. However, disagreement continues between philosophers over whether it is itself an entity, a relationship between entities, or part of a conceptual framework. In the 19th and 20th centuries mathematicians began to examine geometries that are non-Euclidean, in which space is conceived as '' curved'', rather than '' flat'', as in the Euclidean space. According to Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity, space around gravitational fields deviates from Euclidean space. Experimental tests of general relativity have confirmed that non-Euclidean geometries provide a bet ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Soyuz (spacecraft)
Soyuz () is a series of spacecraft which has been in service since the 1960s, having made more than 140 flights. It was designed for the Soviet space program by the Korolev Design Bureau (now Energia (corporation), Energia). The Soyuz succeeded the Voskhod spacecraft and was originally built as part of the Soviet crewed lunar programs. It is launched atop the similarly named Soyuz (rocket family), Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Following the Soviet Union's dissolution, Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, continued to develop and utilize the Soyuz. Between the Space Shuttle retirement, Space Shuttle's 2011 retirement and the SpaceX Crew Dragon's 2020 debut, Soyuz was the sole means of crewed transportation to and from the International Space Station, a role it continues to fulfill. The Soyuz design has also influenced other spacecraft, including China's Shenzhou (spacecraft), Shenzhou and Russia's Progress (spacecraft), Progress cargo vehicle. The Soyu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Space Launch System
The Space Launch System (SLS) is an American Super heavy-lift launch vehicle, super heavy-lift Expendable launch system, expendable launch vehicle used by NASA. As the primary launch vehicle of the Artemis program, Artemis Moon landing program, SLS is designed to launch the crewed Orion (spacecraft), Orion spacecraft on a trans-lunar trajectory. The first (and so far only) SLS launch was the uncrewed Artemis I, which took place on 16 November 2022. Development of SLS began in 2011 as a replacement for the retiring Space Shuttle as well as the canceled Ares I and Ares V launch vehicles. SLS was built using existing Shuttle technology, including Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster, solid rocket boosters and RS-25 engines. The rocket has been criticized for its political motivations, seen as a way to preserve jobs and contracts for aerospace companies involved in the Shuttle program at great expense to NASA. The project has faced significant challenges, including mismanagemen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orion Spacecraft
Orion (Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle or Orion MPCV) is a partially reusable crewed spacecraft used in NASA's Artemis program. The spacecraft consists of a Crew Module (CM) space capsule designed by Lockheed Martin that is paired with a European Service Module (ESM) manufactured by Airbus Defence and Space. Capable of supporting a crew of four beyond low Earth orbit, Orion can last up to 21 days undocked and up to six months docked. It is equipped with solar panels, an automated docking system, and glass cockpit interfaces. Orion is launched atop a Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, with a tower launch escape system. Orion was conceived in the early 2000s by Lockheed Martin as a proposal for the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) to be used in NASA's Constellation program and was selected by NASA in 2006. Following the cancellation of the Constellation program in 2010, Orion was extensively redesigned for use in NASA's Journey to Mars initiative; later named Moon to Mars. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Artemis Program
The Artemis program is a Exploration of the Moon, Moon exploration program led by the United States' National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), formally established in 2017 via Space Policy Directive 1. The program's stated long-term goal is to establish a Moonbase, permanent base on the Moon to facilitate Human mission to Mars, human missions to Mars. It is intended to reestablish a human presence on the Moon for the first time since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972 and continue the direct exploration of Mars begun with data from the Mariner 9 probe in the same year. Two principal elements of the Artemis program are derived from the now-cancelled Constellation program: the Orion (spacecraft), Orion spacecraft (with the European Service Module, ESM instead of a US-built service module) and the Space Launch System's Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster#Five-segment booster, solid rocket boosters (originally developed for the Ares V). Other elements of the program, such as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
