CCtCap - Commercial Crew Transportation Capability

Автор Salo, 01.08.2013 23:26:10

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tnt22

ЦитироватьJeff Foust‏ @jeff_foust 1h ago

Gerst said NASA's Soyuz access to ISS ends in Oct/Nov 2019. As for contingency planning if comm'l crew isn't ready by then, he said one option would be to use their test flights in a more operational role, but still brainstorming other options. #FAACST2018

tnt22

https://blogs.nasa.gov/commercialcrew/2018/02/08/nasas-continued-focus-on-returning-u-s-human-spaceflight-launches/
ЦитироватьNASA's Continued Focus on Returning U.S. Human Spaceflight Launches

Stephanie Martin
Posted Feb 8, 2018 at 9:47 pm



NASA's Commercial Crew Program and private industry partners, Boeing and SpaceX, continue to develop the systems that will return human spaceflight to the United States. Both commercial partners are undertaking considerable amounts of testing in 2018 to prove space system designs and the ability to meet NASA's mission and safety requirement for regular crew flights to the International Space Station.

"The work Boeing and SpaceX are doing is incredible. They are manufacturing spaceflight hardware, performing really complicated testing and proving their systems to make sure we get it right." said Kathy Lueders, program manager NASA Commercial Crew Program. "Getting it right is the most important thing."
Спойлер
Both Boeing and SpaceX plan to fly test missions without crew to the space station prior to test flights with a crew onboard this year. After each company's test flights, NASA will work to certify the systems and begin post-certification crew rotation missions. The current flight schedules for commercial crew systems provide about six months of margin to begin regular, post-certification crew rotation missions to the International Space Station before contracted flights on Soyuz flights end in fall 2019.

As part of the agency's normal contingency planning, NASA is exploring multiple scenarios as the agency protects for potential schedule adjustments to ensure continued U.S. access to the space station. One option under consideration would extend the duration of upcoming flight tests with crew targeted for the end of 2018 on the Boeing CST-100 Starliner and SpaceX Crew Dragon. The flights could be extended longer than the current two weeks planned for test flights, and likely less than a six-month full-duration mission. The agency also is assessing whether there is a need to add another NASA crew member on the flight tests.

This would not the first time NASA has expanded the scope of test flights. NASA had SpaceX carry cargo on its commercial demonstration flight to the International Space Station in 2012, which was not part of the original agreement. This decision allowed NASA to ensure the crew aboard the space station had the equipment, food and other supplies needed on the station after the end of the agency's Space Shuttle Program.

As with all contingency plans, the options will receive a thorough review by the agency, including safety and engineering reviews. NASA will make a decision on these options within the next few months to begin training crews.
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triage

Цитироватьhttp://spacenews.com/nasa-studying-commercial-crew-contingency-plans/

NASA studying commercial crew contingency plans

by Jeff Foust — February 9, 2018
...
Speaking at the Federal Aviation Administration Commercial Space Transportation Conference here Feb. 8, Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA associate administrator for human exploration and operations, said using the planned crewed test flights as crew rotation missions was one option under consideration should neither Boeing nor SpaceX be certified for regular crew rotation missions by the fall of 2019, when NASA's access to Russian Soyuz spacecraft ends.

"Those test flights might be able to be extended a little bit, fly a little bit longer, maybe fly a little bit of crew, and they could be kind of an operational mission," he said in response to a question after a luncheon speech at the conference. "That's something we're beginning to discuss with both SpaceX and with Boeing."

In a later interview, Gerstenmaier said those changes would involve extending the length of the crewed test missions, currently planned for two weeks, to bridge whatever schedule gap until at least one company has a NASA-certified vehicle ready for regular missions. A third astronaut could be added to the two-person crew of the test flight as well to support station operations.

Work on that contingency plan is just starting. "We haven't done anything with the contractors," he said. "We're in the process of just beginning discussions with them." He said the concept will also be reviewed by safety and engineering authorities within the agency.

Gerstenmaier said he hopes to reach a decision by this summer on whether this approach is feasible. 
..
At the FAA conference and the later interview, he emphasized there was no urgency to pursue those plans. NASA's access to the ISS through Soyuz seats, including those Boeing acquired from Energia last year as settlement for litigation involving Sea Launch and subsequently sold to NASA, runs through October or November of 2019, when the astronauts who flew to the ISS on Soyuz missions in the spring of 2019 return to Earth.
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However, the commercial crew program has suffered significant schedule delays. When Boeing and SpaceX won the NASA contracts to develop their vehicles in September 2014, NASA expected to have both companies' vehicles certified by the end of 2017. That schedule has since been pushed back by more than a year.

At the House hearing in January, Christina Chaplain, director of acquisition and sourcing management at the Government Accountability Office, said NASA's own internal estimates expected SpaceX's certification to slip to December 2019, and Boeing's to February 2020. "The delays and uncertain final certification dates raise questions about whether the U.S. will have uninterrupted access to the space station beyond 2019," she said then.
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tnt22

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-boeing-may-evolve-flight-test-strategy
ЦитироватьApril 6, 2018

NASA, Boeing May Evolve Flight Test Strategy


An artist image of the Boeing Starliner spacecraft docking to the International Space Station. Image credit: Boeing

NASA has updated its Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap) contract with Boeing, which provides flexibility in its commercial flight tests. Boeing, one of the agency's two commercial crew partners, approached NASA last year and proposed adding a third crew member on its Crew Flight Test (CFT) to the International Space Station.

The change includes the ability to extend Boeing's CFT from roughly two weeks to up to six months as well as the training and mission support for a third crew member. Cargo capabilities for the uncrewed and crewed flight tests were also identified.

Exact details of how to best take advantage of the contract modification are under evaluation, but the changes could allow for additional microgravity research, maintenance, and other activities while Starliner is docked to station. Adding a third crew member on Boeing's flight test could offer NASA an additional opportunity to ensure continued U.S. access to the orbital laboratory.
Спойлер
"This contract modification provides NASA with additional schedule margin if needed," said William Gerstenmaier, associate administrator, Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "We appreciate Boeing's willingness to evolve its flight to ensure we have continued access to space for our astronauts. Commercial space transportation to low-Earth orbit from U.S. soil is critical for the agency and the nation."

The current commercial crew flight schedules provide about six months of margin to begin regular, post-certification crew rotation missions to the International Space Station before NASA's contracted flights on Soyuz flights end in fall 2019.

"Turning a test flight into more of an operational mission needs careful review by the technical community," said Gerstenmaier. "For example, the spacecraft capability to support the additional time still needs to be reviewed. Modifying the contract now allows NASA and Boeing an opportunity to tailor the duration to balance the mission needs with vehicle and crew capabilities."

This would not be the first time NASA has expanded the scope of test flights. NASA had SpaceX carry cargo on its commercial cargo demonstration flight to the International Space Station under the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) initiative in 2012, which was not part of the original agreement. As part of its normal operations planning, NASA has assessed multiple scenarios to ensure continued U.S. access to the space station. The agency is working closely with its commercial partners and is preparing for potential schedule adjustments normally experienced during spacecraft development.

"Our partners have made significant progress on the development of their spacecraft, launch vehicle, and ground systems," said Kathy Lueders, NASA's Commercial Crew Program manager at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. "Their rigorous testing and analysis are verifying each system performs and reacts as planned as they prepare to safely carry our astronauts to and from the station."

Boeing and SpaceX plan to fly test missions without crew to the space station this year prior to test flights with a crew onboard. After each company's test flights, NASA will evaluate the in-flight performance in order to certify the systems and begin regular post-certification crew rotation missions.
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Last Updated: April 6, 2018
Editor: Linda Herridge

tnt22

https://spaceflightnow.com/2018/04/09/boeing-proposes-extending-test-flight-of-commercial-crew-capsule/
ЦитироватьBoeing proposes extending test flight of commercial crew capsule
April 9, 2018Stephen Clark


Artist's illustration of a CST-100 Starliner spacecraft docked at the International Space Station. Credit: Boeing

NASA has agreed to consider a Boeing proposal to extend the first piloted test flight of its commercial CST-100 Starliner crew capsule fr om two weeks to up to six months with an extra crew member for the International Space Station, hedging against potential delays that could jeopardize U.S. crew access to the orbiting outpost, officials said last week.

The U.S. space agency said Thursday it recently updated its contract with Boeing to enable the first test flight of the company's CST-100 Starliner crew ferry ship to remain at the space station for up to six months. The original plan called for a two-week test flight to the space station and back to Earth.

In addition, the updated contract would allow NASA and Boeing to fly a third crew member on the CST-100 spacecraft's Crew Flight Test. Officials previously planned for the Crew Flight Test to carry a Boeing test pilot and a NASA astronaut.
Спойлер
"Exact details of how to best take advantage of the contract modification are under evaluation, but the changes could allow for additional microgravity research, maintenance, and other activities while Starliner is docked to station," NASA said in a statement. "Adding a third crew member on Boeing's flight test could offer NASA an additional opportunity to ensure continued U.S. access to the orbital laboratory."

Boeing could also carry cargo to the space station abroad the CST-100 Starliner test flights under the terms of the updated contract.

If exercised, the options for a longer-duration Crew Flight Test with an extra crew member could blunt the impact of delays in the readiness of Boeing and SpaceX capsules to begin regular crew rotation flights to and from the space station.

The U.S.-built commercial crew craft will end NASA's reliance on Russian Soyuz spaceships to deliver astronauts to the space station and return them to Earth. NASA has secured Soyuz seats for U.S. astronauts and crew members from other station partners through 2019, but officials do not plan further Soyuz seat purchases.

That puts the onus on Boeing and SpaceX to deliver.

"This contract modification provides NASA with additional schedule margin if needed," said William Gerstenmaier, associate administrator of NASA's human exploration and operations mission directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "We appreciate Boeing's willingness to evolve its flight to ensure we have continued access to space for our astronauts. Commercial space transportation to low-Earth orbit from U.S. soil is critical for the agency and the nation."

NASA said it will consider a similar contract update with SpaceX, should the company propose one.

The flight sequence currently planned by NASA, Boeing and SpaceX includes unpiloted test flights of the CST-100 Starliner and Crew Dragon spacecraft to dock with the space station, followed by demonstration flights with two-person crews. Each company plans one unpiloted test flight and one demo mission with an on-board crew.

The latest schedule released by NASA indicates Boeing and SpaceX plan to launch their initial crew capsule test flights into orbit as soon as August — without a crew. Astronauts would strap into the CST-100 Starliner for its Crew Flight Test in November, followed by the first Crew Dragon test flight with humans on-board in December.

But those mission schedules are optimistic, and they assume Boeing and SpaceX quicken their development pace in the coming months. In addition to the test flights to the space station, Boeing is finishing up structural testing and plans a pad abort test to verify the CST-100's escape rockets can safely get a crew away from an exploding rocket on the launch pad. SpaceX's upcoming work includes a vacuum test of the Crew Dragon spacecraft, final qualification of its parachutes and an in-flight abort test, designed to check the capsule's ability to get away from a launch failure after liftoff.

"I would say the schedule the contractors have laid out is aggressive," said Steve Stich, deputy manager of NASA's commercial crew program, in a briefing with reporters April 2. "What we have seen from both Boeing and SpaceX is when we get to a point wh ere maybe the dates are no longer supportable with what testing they have to do, then those dates get adjusted. The reason those dates get adjusted is the fact that there's work to complete to ensure those spacecraft are safe."

After the successful completion of the crew demonstration flights, Boeing and SpaceX will be formally certified by NASA to begin regular crew rotation missions, carrying four astronauts at a time to and from the space station. The spacecraft will stay docked to the complex for up to seven months, serving as a lifeboat for the crew to escape in case of an emergency.

NASA has a contract with Boeing worth up to $4.2 billion to complete development of the CST-100 crew capsule, conduct the two test flights to the space station, and fly up to six subsequent crew rotations. NASA's contract with SpaceX, covering Crew Dragon development, test flights and up to six crew rotations, is valued at up to $2.6 billion.

Officials did not disclose how the updates to the Boeing contract could change the deal's monetary value.

NASA says the cost-per-seat on the CST-100 and Crew Dragon capsules will average out at about $58 million. The Russian government charged NASA as much as $81 million per round-trip Soyuz ticket.

Boeing's crew capsule will lift off on a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral's Complex 41 launch pad, while SpaceX will launch its piloted missions on the company's own Falcon 9 booster from pad 39A, the former Apollo and space shuttle launch site at NASA's Kennedy Space Center.

The CST-100 will return to Earth under parachutes for an airbag-cushioned landing at a site in New Mexico, Utah, California, or Arizona. The Crew Dragon will splash down in the Atlantic Ocean off of Florida's coast.

"Turning a test flight into more of an operational mission needs careful review by the technical community," Gerstenmaier said in a statement. "For example, the spacecraft capability to support the additional time still needs to be reviewed. Modifying the contract now allows NASA and Boeing an opportunity to tailor the duration to balance the mission needs with vehicle and crew capabilities."

NASA said the current schedules, which project the Boeing and SpaceX crew ferry craft will be available for operational crew rotations in the spring of 2019, have about six months of margin before NASA's contract for Soyuz seats expires in the fall of 2019.

But a review by the Government Accountability Office earlier this year said the certification schedules for both commercial crew vehicles was likely to fall well behind NASA's current timeline.

Boeing and SpaceX aimed to fly their first human-rated spacecraft to the International Space Station in late 2016 and early 2017, with a goal of having both vehicles ready for operational missions by the end of 2017. But budget shortfalls from Congress, combined with technical hurdles encountered by both companies, delayed the test flights.
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"In fact, final certification dates have slipped to the first quarter of calendar year 2019 and we found that the program's own analysis indicates that certification is likely to slip into December 2019 for SpaceX and February 2020 for Boeing," said Cristina Chaplain, a senior manager at the Government Accountability Office, during a congressional hearing in January.

triage

Вероятный график от февраля
ЦитироватьSalo пишет:
https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/ccp_presentation_for_nac_public_session.pdf


Ранее чем апрель
Цитировать https://spacepolicyonline.com/news/nasa-may-operationalize-boeings-commercial-crew-flight-test/
By Marcia Smith | Posted: April 5, 2018
...
At a January 2018 hearingbefore the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee's Space Subcommittee, Cristina Chaplain of the Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported that GAO's most recent review of the program concluded that Crew Dragon and CST-100 Starliner are not likely to be certified until December 2019 and January 2020 respectively.  Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA's Associate Administrator for Human Exploration and Operations, responded that NASA is "brainstorming" options if there are delays.
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А вот январьское
Цитировать https://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-18-317T
NASA COMMERCIAL CREW PROGRAM:Continued Delays Pose Risks for Uninterrupted Access to the International Space Station
GAO-18-317T: Published: Jan 17, 2018. Publicly Released: Jan 17, 2018.
 https://www.gao.gov/assets/690/689448.pdf
 https://www.gao.gov/assets/690/689529.pdf
ЦитироватьHowever, the extent to which these schedules represent an accurate estimate of each contractor's final certification date is unclear for the following two reasons:

1 Each contractor provides schedule updates to the Commercial Crew Program at quarterly status reviews, and the dates frequently change. The program has held 12 quarterly reviews since each contract was awarded. Boeing has reported a delay six times and SpaceX has reported a delay nine times that included at least one key event identified in the timeline above at these quarterly reviews. 

2. The Commercial Crew Program is tracking risks that both contractors could experience additional schedule delays and, based on our ongoing work, we found that the program's own analysis indicates that certification is likely to slip into December 2019 for SpaceX and February 2020 for Boeing. Each month, the program updates its schedule risk analysis, based on the contractors' internal schedules as well as the program's perspectives and insight into specific technical risks. The Commercial Crew Program manager stated that differences between the contractors' proposed schedules and the program's schedule risk analysis include the following: 

· The contractors are aggressive and use their schedule dates to motivate their teams, while NASA adds additional schedule margin for testing. 
· Both contractors assume an efficiency factor in getting to the crewed flight test that NASA does not factor into its analysis. The program manager explained further that the program meets with each contractor monthly to discuss schedules and everyone agrees to the relationships between events in the schedule even if they disagree on the length of time required to complete events. The program manager added, however, that she relies on her prior experience for a better sense of schedule timeframes as opposed to relying on the contractors' schedules. 

tnt22

https://spaceflightnow.com/2018/04/16/nasa-could-extend-space-station-expeditions-as-hedge-against-commercial-crew-delays/
ЦитироватьNASA could extend space station stays as hedge against commercial crew delays
April 16, 2018Stephen Clark


File photo of acting NASA Administrator Robert Lightfoot. Credit: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani

NASA is working with the Russian space agency to potentially extend crew stays on the International Space Station, the agency's acting administrator said last week, as a cushion against expected delays in the development of commercial crew capsules by Boeing and SpaceX.

Robert Lightfoot, who has led the U.S. space agency on an interim basis since January 2017, told lawmakers Thursday that NASA is looking for ways to ensure U.S. astronauts can fly to the space station in case commercial spaceships designed by Boeing and SpaceX are not operational by the time a transportation contract with Russia expires in late 2019.
Спойлер
One option already under study is potentially extending the first piloted test flights of the commercial crew ships fr om two days up to six months. NASA recently updated its commercial crew contract with Boeing, giving officials the option to lengthen the first piloted test flight of the company's CST-100 Starliner spacecraft from two weeks to six months, along with the possible addition of a third crew member.

The space agency said it would consider a similar arrangement with SpaceX if the company proposes it.

Lightfoot, who is retiring at the end of April, told a House appropriations subcommittee Thursday that NASA does not expect a gap in crew access to the space station between the end of Soyuz missions under contract with U.S. astronauts and the start of regular space station crew rotation flights by Boeing and SpaceX.

But the Government Accountability Office in January reported that the schedules are likely to fall behind NASA's current projection, which anticipates Boeing and SpaceX's vehicles completing their uncrewed and crewed demonstration missions by the spring of 2019.

The GAO's report said certification of SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule for operational crew rotation missions is likely to slip until December 2019, with Boeing's final certification likely to occur in February 2020.

Lightfoot said NASA is taking further steps to minimize the impact of further commercial crew delays, including the possibility of lengthening the time astronauts live and work on the space station.

"We're working with all our partners and working all the options, but right now we know we still show margin," Lightfoot said.

"One thing we have is a great relationship with our Russian partners, and we're looking at other alternatives about potentially extending the mission durations for the current missions that are there," he said.


File photo of NASA astronaut Ricky Arnold boarding a Soyuz spacecraft during testing at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Credit: NASA/Victor Zelentsov

Space station crews typically spend around six months in orbit, but some crew members have stayed longer. NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko spent 340 days on the space station in 2015 and 2016. Astronaut Peggy Whitson returned from an extended 288-day mission in September.

Scientists are eager for more astronauts to stay on the space station for longer missions. The long-duration missions give researchers important data about how extended exposure to microgravity and radiation affects the human body.

Joel Montalbano, NASA's deputy space station program manager, said April 1 that scientists have asked station officials to find 10 to 12 slots for year-long crew members. There are no firm plans to send a crew to the station for a year, but NASA continues to look for an opportunity, Montalbano said.

"We're looking at ways to ... extend stays that we have currently on the station with the seats that we do have left through the Soyuz program," Lightfoot said Thursday.

NASA is not planning to buy more Soyuz seats from Russia, but officials have previously said that once the commercial crew spacecraft are operational, the station partners plan to accommodate at least one U.S. astronaut and one Russian cosmonaut on each launch. The in-kind arrangement has been negotiated without the exchange of funds between NASA and Roscosmos, the Russian space agency.

Lightfoot said Boeing and SpaceX are "making great progress" on their commercial crew capsules. But like NASA's Space Launch System and Orion programs — part of the agency's deep space exploration plans — the commercial crew vehicles are running into difficulties as engineers build the first flight-ready models of each spacecraft.

The most recent public schedule released by NASA indicate the first test flights by the Crew Dragon and CST-100 Starliner could occur in August, but industry and government officials expect that schedule to slip. Plans to conduct the first Crew Dragon test flight with a two-person crew in November, and fly two test pilots on a CST-100 Starliner spaceship in December, are also widely considered "aggressive" by space program officials.

Lightfoot said Thursday that NASA still expects both companies to complete their unpiloted demonstration flights to Earth orbit by the end of the year. He declined to state a schedule for the crewed test flights.

"We still expect to see the first test flights at the end of this year, from both providers," he said. "These would be the uncrewed flights. We're working through that now."

The unpiloted and crewed test missions will dock with the International Space Station.

The Crew Dragon capsule will blast off on SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, then parachute into the Atlantic Ocean at the end of its mission. Boeing's CST-100 Starliner will lift off on the Atlas 5 rocket, built and operated by Boeing subsidiary United Launch Alliance, then return to a parachute-assisted and airbag-cushioned touchdown at one of five landing zones in the Western United States, likely in New Mexico.

The U.S.-built ships will normally carry a crew of four to the space station, wh ere the capsules will remain docked for up to 210 days before returning the astronauts to Earth. Russian Soyuz spacecraft carry three-person crews.

"Regardless of what is going on in the rest of the world, our space cooperation with the Russians has been very good," Lightfoot said. "It's a good team. We're ready to get our flights from U.S. soil though. We're ready to get back to that."
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tnt22

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/rescue-operations-take-shape-for-commercial-crew-program-astronauts
ЦитироватьMay 1, 2018

Rescue Operations Take Shape for Commercial Crew Program Astronauts

As a child watching Apollo 11 land on the Moon, Ted Mosteller dreamed of working for the space program. As leader of NASA's Commercial Crew Program Landing and Recovery Team, he directs a multi-agency operation to rescue astronauts in emergency landing scenarios.

"It's like insurance," he said. "You have insurance on your car or house, but you hope you never have to use it."

Rescue and recovery involves meticulous planning and close coordination between NASA, the Department of Defense (DOD), and company recovery teams for Starliner and Crew Dragon. These are the spacecraft of commercial partners Boeing and SpaceX that will fly astronauts to and from the International Space Station from U.S. soil. In the event of a variety of contingency landings, an elite team is prepared to rescue the crew anywhere in the world.
Спойлер

Pararescue specialists from the 304th Rescue Squadron, located in Portland, Oregon and supporting the 45th Operations Group's Detachment 3, based out of Patrick Air Force Base, deploy their parachutes and prepare to touch down on the Atlantic Ocean surface during an astronaut rescue training exercise in April.
Credits: NASA

In preparation for both launch and landing, U.S. Air Force "Guardian Angel" Pararescue forces will be pre-positioned in key locations, alert and ready to deploy at a moment's notice. Should a spacecraft splash down within 200 nautical miles of the launch site, an HC-130 aircraft along with two HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopters will deploy from Patrick Air Force Base in Florida. These aircraft will carry a team of up to nine Guardian Angels—also known as pararescue specialists—along with rescue equipment and medical supplies.


Pararescue specialists, also known as "Guardian Angels," prepare equipment during an astronaut rescue training exercise in April off of Florida's eastern coast.
Credits: NASA

The pararescue specialists would jump from the aircraft with inflatable boats, an inflatable ring -- called a stabilization collar -- to steady the capsule in the water, and other equipment. After performing an initial hazard assessment, the team would install the collar and enter the spacecraft to tend to the crew's immediate medical needs before safely moving them onto a specially designed 20-person life raft. From there, the crew would be airlifted out for further medical attention.

For contingency landings outside of the 200 nautical mile-radius, a C-17 aircraft would deploy from either Charleston Air Force Base in South Carolina or Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii, depending on the splashdown location, with the same type of team and equipment to execute rescue operations.

 "The C-17s are faster and have a longer range, so we use them for rescue capabilities worldwide," Mosteller explained. In order to support global rescue, the life raft is equipped with enough food, water and medical supplies to sustain both rescuers and crew for up to three days. In this situation, DOD would complete the rescue by enlisting help from the U.S. Coast Guard, a DOD ship, or a nearby commercial ship of opportunity to transport the crew to safety.

As the name Guardian Angels suggests, these rescuers are trained to protect. "Most people don't even know who we are, but we specialize in problem solving in very dynamic environments," said Brandon Daugherty, space medical contingency specialist with the 45th Operations Group's Detachment 3. "There are only about 500 pararescue specialists worldwide. We are fully qualified paramedics, and able to perform field surgery, if necessary." While NASA's strategy for CCP is to have the commercial partners to provide end-to-end crew transportation services, it was determined to be more effective and efficient to rely on the DOD for contingency rescue because of their unique capabilities.


Pararescue specialists secure a covered life raft as the sun sets during an astronaut rescue training exercise off of Florida's eastern coast in April. The specially designed 20-person life raft is equipped with enough food, water and medical supplies to sustain both rescuers and crew for up to three days, if necessary.
Credits: NASA

Pararecue specialists have evolved their military capabilities to help the commercial partners and NASA. "We're the only force equipped to do global, worldwide rescue and recovery in any climate. Whether it's the top of a mountain or the bottom of the ocean, we can get there," said Daugherty.

Mosteller's team executed the first joint rescue training development exercise in August 2017, which involved more than 200 individuals from NASA, the U.S. Armed Forces and SpaceX crew recovery teams. This event marked the first open ocean astronaut rescue training development exercise with a commercial spacecraft off the eastern coast of Florida. NASA and the DOD conducted similar exercises for the Gemini, Apollo and Space Shuttle Programs.

The exercise involved multiple marine and air platforms including a U.S. Coast Guard ship, a C-17 aircraft and crew, several support boats and a SpaceX Crew Dragon mockup as well as ground support equipment shared with NASA's Orion Program. The team used the test to develop specific rescue procedures and plans, including how mitigate potential hazards while entering the spacecraft and safely remove the crew. Since then, rescue and recovery teams for both SpaceX and Boeing have continued to work with NASA and DOD to refine their processes, and have kept pace with the training schedule.

NASA intends to perform a similar open ocean activity with Boeing using the company's water recovery trainer this fall. Even though Boeing's Starliner was designed for land-based returns, and although landing in the water is unlikely, it's critical for teams to practice a variety of landing scenarios. In May, Boeing and pararescue specialists will be practicing water landing scenarios, including crew extraction and equipment interfaces, using a mockup of the Starliner at Johnson Space Center in Houston.

"Pararescue has been a part of the space mission from the beginning. It's extremely patriotic, so I'm honored to be part of this mission," said Daugherty.
[свернуть]
Last Updated: May 1, 2018
Editor: Bob Granath

tnt22

http://spacenews.com/advisory-committee-asks-nasa-to-develop-plans-for-reduced-iss-crew/
ЦитироватьAdvisory committee asks NASA to develop plans for reduced ISS crew
by Jeff Foust — May 15, 2018


NASA's ISS Advisory Committee is asking the agency to look at options for running the station with a reduced U.S. crew should commercial crew programs experience further delays. Credit: NASA

WASHINGTON — A NASA advisory committee, concerned about delays in the development of commercial crew systems, wants the agency to look at options where the International Space Station is operated with a reduced crew.

At a May 14 meeting of the ISS Advisory Committee, its chairman, Thomas Stafford, said that NASA should consider training Russian cosmonauts on key systems in what's known as the U.S. Operating Segment (USOS) portion of the ISS, which includes elements from the U.S., Europe, Japan and Canada, in the event extended commercial crew development delays reduce the size of the station's crew.
Спойлер
"For years, we have observed delays after delays in the development, flight test and qualification milestones in commercial crew, and therefore we believe the current schedule is optimistic," Stafford said of schedules that call for flight tests of commercial crew vehicles in the latter half of 2018.

His committee recommended that NASA and the other ISS partners should plan for ways to operate the station with a reduced crew if commercial crew vehicles aren't ready to enter service by the fall of 2019.

"Given these schedule risks, we recommend the partnership pursue plans to protect for a minimum crew capability to ensure ISS viability during the flight development phase," he said. "NASA's biggest priority is maintaining the U.S. presence on the ISS in case the commercial crew launch dates slip."

One option he mentioned at the meeting is "providing training to Russian crewmembers on the USOS critical systems." That training, he said, would be provided to cosmonauts scheduled to fly to the station on Soyuz missions in September 2019 and March 2020.

Stafford said his committee requested a presentation from NASA on such planning at its next meeting. NASA spokesperson Cheryl Warner confirmed May 15 that NASA has been asked to discuss planning for a reduced U.S. crew presence on the ISS at the committee's next meeting.

The most recent public schedules for the commercial crew program include uncrewed test flights of Boeing and SpaceX spacecraft in August. Boeing is scheduled to perform a crewed test flight in November, followed by SpaceX in December.

However, there is widespread skepticism that the companies will be able to maintain that schedule, with an expectation that the crewed test flights will be delayed until some time in 2019. The U.S. Government Accountability Office warned in January that SpaceX may not be certified by NASA to carry ISS crewmembers until December 2019, with Boeing's certification potentially as late as February 2020.

That has led to contingency planning by NASA given that its current, and final, agreement with Roscosmos to carry astronauts on Soyuz missions ends in the fall of 2019. NASA announced earlier this year it was considering converting the crewed test flights into ISS crew rotation missions, with the vehicle staying at the ISS for up to several months rather than a few weeks.

NASA announced April 5 a modification of Boeing's commercial crew contract to study potential changes along those lines, including adding a third crewmember. "This contract modification provides NASA with additional schedule margin if needed," said Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA associate administrator for human exploration and operations, in a statement about the contract modification. That statement noted that current schedules offer about six months of margin for starting regular ISS crew rotation flights on Boeing's CST-100 Starliner or SpaceX's Crew Dragon.

Stafford's report at the committee meeting discussed other ISS technical and utilization issues but did not mention the proposal in NASA's 2019 budget request to end federal funding of the ISS by 2025 as part of its low Earth orbit commercialization initiative. Stafford's comments at the meeting were based on a joint meeting his committee had with its Russian counterpart in Houston in late January, prior to the release of the budget request in February, and neither he nor other committee members discussed that proposal.

While Stafford raised a number of minor issues with the station, such as a gradual degradation of the station's solar arrays, he said nothing would prevent the station from operating for at least another decade. "NASA analysis has determined there is no technical need to end ISS before 2028," he said.
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lev_g

Две новости, связанные с CCtCap от SpaceX, одна хорошая, одна плохая:

1. Хорошая: Председатель Консультативного комитета по безопасности (Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel), которя ранее выражала серьезную озабоченность необходимостью заправки Фалькона 9 непосредственно перед стартом, после изучения последнего доклада НАСА по безопасности, считает риски, связанные с этой процедурой приемлемыми, и с ней согласны остальные члены комитета. Если это станет официальной позицией комитета в целом - одно из серьезных препятствий на пути к сертификации  будет устранено.

2. Плохая: В первом полете Block 5 не использовались гелиевые баки новой конструкции, и поэтому этот полет не будет включен в число необходимых для сертификации семи полетов в "окончательной" конфигурации. Более того, первый полет с новыми баками состоится только в августе, при первом беспилотном запуске Dragon 2. Это, с высокой вероятностью, повлияет на сроки первого пилотируемого запуска и сертификации.

New helium tank for SpaceX crew launches still waiting to fly  

tnt22

ЦитироватьMichael Sheetz‏Подлинная учетная запись @thesheetztweetz 1 ч. назад

The event August 3 announcing updates to NASA's @Commercial_Crew program moved to Johnson Space Center from Kennedy Space Center, a KSC source tells me. It is unclear if @VP Pence will still attend.


tnt22

https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-to-name-astronauts-assigned-to-first-boeing-spacex-flights
ЦитироватьJuly 25, 2018
MEDIA ADVISORY M18-111

NASA to Name Astronauts Assigned to First Boeing, SpaceX Flights



NASA will announce on Friday, Aug. 3, the astronauts assigned to crew the first flight tests and missions of the Boeing CST-100 Starliner and SpaceX Crew Dragon, and begin a new era in American spaceflight. NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine will preside over the event, which will begin at 11 a.m. EDT on NASA Television and the agency's website.

NASA will announce the crew assignments for the crew flight tests and the first post-certification mission for both Boeing and SpaceX. NASA partnered with Boeing and SpaceX to develop the Starliner spacecraft to launch atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket and the Crew Dragon launching atop the Falcon 9 rocket, respectively.
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U.S. media are invited to attend the event at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston and, afterward, speak with the astronauts about their assignments. Media wishing to attend must contact Johnson's newsroom at 281-483-5111 by 4 p.m. CDT Wednesday, Aug. 1.

Johnson Space Center Director Mark Geyer and Kennedy Space Center Director Bob Cabana will join Bridenstine and representatives from Boeing and SpaceX to introduce the crews.

NASA's Commercial Crew Program is working with the American aerospace industry as companies develop and operate a new generation of spacecraft and launch systems designed to carry crews safely to and from low-Earth orbit. The Starliner and Crew Dragon will launch American astronauts on American-made spacecraft from American soil to the International Space Station for the first time since NASA retired its Space Shuttle Program in 2011.

Commercial transportation to and from the space station will enable expanded station use, additional research time and broader opportunities of discovery aboard the orbiting laboratory. The station is critical for NASA to understand and overcome the challenges of long-duration spaceflight, and necessary for a sustainable presence on the Moon and missions deeper into the solar system, including Mars.
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Last Updated: July 25, 2018
Editor: Karen Northon

tnt22

https://spacenews.com/safety-panel-warns-schedule-for-commercial-crew-test-flights-still-uncertain/
ЦитироватьSafety panel warns schedule for commercial crew test flights still uncertain
by Jeff Foust — July 30, 2018


A safety panel said that while a "realistic timeframe" for uncrewed test flights of the Crew Dragon and CST-100 Starliner vehicles can now be projected, schedules for later crewed test flights are still uncertain. Credit: SpaceX artist's concept and Boeing

WASHINGTON — As NASA prepares to announce the astronauts who will fly the first commercial crew missions, an independent safety board is cautioning that it is still too soon to set dates for those flights.

NASA said in a statement last week that it will name the astronauts who will fly the crewed demo flights by Boeing and SpaceX during an event Aug. 3 at the Johnson Space Center. The event will also announce the crews for the first post-certification missions by each company, which will mark the start of routine transportation of astronauts to and fr om the station by Boeing's CST-100 Starliner and SpaceX's Crew Dragon.
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The NASA statement did not explicitly state if the agency will also upd ate the schedule for those flights. The latest public schedules, released by NASA early this year, call for uncrewed test flights by both companies in August, followed by crewed test flights by Boeing in November and SpaceX in December. However, delays of at least several months are widely expected for both companies' test flights.

Members of NASA's Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) appeared to caution against flying at least the crewed demonstration flights in the near future. "We see both continued progress and a large volume of work ahead" for the commercial crew program, said Patricia Sanders, chair of ASAP, at a July 26 meeting at NASA Headquarters. "It should be possible to project a realistic timeframe for at least the uncrewed test flights."

However, she said that did not extend to the later crewed flights. "Depending on the results of the uncrewed flights as well as the resolution of some outstanding technical issues, firm dates for the crewed flight tests are still uncertain," she said.
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One of the outstanding technical issues is what Boeing called an "anomaly" during a recent hot-fire test of the abort engine system that will be used by Starliner. That anomaly, announced by the company earlier this month, is expected to delay a pad abort test of the vehicle as well as its upcoming demonstration flights, but the company has not said by how much.
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"There was an anomaly on that test that we need to better understand in terms of its potential impact on the design and the operations and the schedule," said ASAP member George Nield at the meeting. "Boeing has asked for some additional time to step back and understand that a little bit better, so we can expect some uncertainty in the near-term schedules."
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SpaceX and NASA are still working two issues with its Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 launch vehicle. One is the redesign of composite overwrapped pressure vessels (COPVs) used to store helium in the propellant tanks on the Falcon 9. SpaceX has redesigned the COPV following an accident nearly two years ago that destroyed a Falcon 9 and its satellite payload prior to a static-fire test.
Спойлер
"There's still a lot of work to do. They jury's still out on this," said ASAP member David West on the COPV redesign. "We look forward to seeing what the result of all this work will mean in terms of a final characterization of the risk and whether or not that risk will be acceptable." If that risk is not acceptable, he added, further risk mitigation measures, which he didn't specify, may be needed.

SpaceX has also been addressing an issue with the Falcon 9's Merlin 1D engine. Examination of some of the first engines found anomalies that were "potentially dangerous, and certainly not desirable," said ASAP member Donald McErlean. SpaceX and NASA have worked on a test plan to address the problem.

SpaceX and NASA, he said, have come up "two principal courses of action in the short term" to correct the problem and two others that would require more modifications to the engine. "The risk is low enough with the two short-term modifications to use those for powering the uncrewed test," he said, "and the decision for powering the crewed test would come later." He didn't elaborate on those courses of action, but said that the panel was "optimistic those courses of action will result in a satisfactory conclusion."

Despite the technical issues that could delay those test flights, ASAP members said they saw no evidence of safety being jeopardized. "The ASAP has not seen any evidence of negative safety impacts based on schedule pressure," Nield said. "I think people are looking for that. They're aware of the danger there."

ASAP members praised SpaceX in particular for its attention to safety issues, such as development of software tools for tracking development and production issues. "Their tool se t, if used comprehensively and broadly across their culture, are actually very encouraging to us as something that could evolve into an admirable advantage," ASAP member Susan Helms said. "It looks like things are on a good path."

"We're at the point where, after many years of those demo flights being distantly in the future, we're reaching the point wh ere the program is rapidly approaching the launch of those demos," said ASAP member Sandy Magnus. "There's a lot yet to accomplish."
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tnt22


tnt22

https://blogs.nasa.gov/commercialcrew/2018/08/02/nasas-commercial-crew-program-target-test-flight-dates-3/
ЦитироватьNASA's Commercial Crew Program Target Test Flight Dates

Stephanie Martin
Posted Aug 2, 2018 at 2:00 pm

The next generation of American spacecraft and rockets that will launch astronauts to the International Space Station are nearing the final stages of development and evaluation. NASA's Commercial Crew Program will return human spaceflight launches to U.S. soil, providing safe, reliable and cost-effective access to low-Earth orbit on systems that meet our safety and mission requirements. To meet NASA's requirements, the commercial providers must demonstrate that their systems are ready to begin regular flights to the space station. Two of those demonstrations are uncrewed flight tests, known as Orbital Flight Test for Boeing, and Demo-1 for SpaceX. After the uncrewed flight tests, both companies will execute a flight test with crew prior to being certified by NASA for crew rotation missions. The following schedule reflects the most recent publicly releasable dates for both providers.

Targeted Test Flight Dates:
Boeing Orbital Flight Test (uncrewed): late 2018 / early 2019
Boeing Crew Flight Test (crewed): mid-2019
SpaceX Demo-1 (uncrewed): November 2018
SpaceX Demo-2 (crewed): April 2019

tnt22

https://ria.ru/20190715/1556510200.html
ЦитироватьИсточник рассказал о планах США по запуску пилотируемых кораблей к МКС
03:14

МОСКВА, 15 июл - РИА Новости. Первый после сертификации НАСА американский корабль с экипажем полетит на Международную космическую станцию (МКС) весной, сообщил РИА Новости источник в ракетно-космической отрасли.

В 2011 году была выведена из эксплуатации американская многоразовая пилотируемая транспортная система Space Shuttle. После этого экипажи на МКС доставляют только российские корабли "Союз". В США разработаны новые пилотируемые корабли: Crew Dragon - компанией SpaceX, Starliner - компанией Boeing. После успешных испытательных беспилотного и пилотируемого полетов оба корабля будут сертифицированы НАСА для выполнения штатных полетов с экипажами на МКС.

"Запуск первого после сертификации НАСА американского корабля с экипажем на МКС намечается в мае 2020 года", - сказал собеседник агентства.

Какой это будет корабль - Crew Dragon или Starliner, станет ясно по результатам испытательных полетов.

В марте Crew Dragon совершил первый испытательный беспилотный полет на МКС. Запуск первого корабля с экипажем на станцию планируется на 15 ноября. В состав экипажа входят астронавты НАСА Роберт Бенкен и Дуглас Херли.

Испытательный запуск к МКС первого Starliner без экипажа намечается на 17 сентября. Первый корабль с экипажем планируется запустить на станцию в испытательном режиме 30 ноября. В состав экипажа входят астронавты НАСА Майкл Финк и Николь Аунапу Манн, а также астронавт Boeing Кристофер Фергюсон.

В дальнейшем для обеспечения безопасности предполагается бартерная схема в доставке экипажей на МКС, при которой один астронавт США будет летать на российских кораблях "Союз", а один российский космонавт - на американских кораблях.

triage

На случай русскоязычных заявлений о известных датах - а то выше дата РИА откуда-то известна
Цитироватьhttps://spacenews.com/faulty-valve-blamed-for-crew-dragon-test-accident/

Faulty valve blamed for Crew Dragon test accident

by Jeff Foust — July 15, 2019
...
Neither Koenigsmann nor Lueders would commit to a schedule for resuming test flights of the Crew Dragon spacecraft, including both the in-flight abort and the Demo-2 mission, which will carry NASA astronaut Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley. Prior to the accident the Demo-2 mission was officially scheduled for late summer, but most industry observers expected it to slip to late in the year.

Koenigsmann said work like replacing check valves with burst disks can be done at the same time as other activities that need to be completed prior to NASA's approval for the Demo-2 flight, like completing testing of parachutes. "It's a parallel path, basically, to solving the remaining work that we have on Dragon in general," he said.

Both said that the Demo-2 flight could still take place before the end of the year, although Koenigsmann acknowledged it was "increasingly difficult" to keep that flight scheduled for this year.

"There's always a chance we're going to fly crew on a SpaceX vehicle this year," Lueders said. "Right now we're paying very close attention to the work that's being done, coming out of the anomaly investigation, along with the other tests." She said that Behnken and Hurley had been briefed "multiple times" on the investigation during their regular visits to SpaceX.

"We're going to fly when we feel like the certification work has been done to be able to safely fly our crews," she added. "I hope it's this year, but we're going to fly when it's the right time and when we know we'll be flying our crews safely."

triage

#38
Как и ожидалось от русскоязычных СМИ- что за ... Лаврова на них нету
Цитироватьhttps://www.militarynews.ru/story.asp?rid=1&nid=512803&lang=RU
Российские космонавты не будут летать на кораблях Boeing и SpaceX до подтверждения безопасности полетов - "Роскосмос"
16.07.2019 19:12:27
         Москва. 16 июля. ИНТЕРФАКС - "Роскосмос" имеет ряд вопросов к безопасности полетов на перспективных американских кораблях Starliner и Crew Dragon, заявил руководитель пресс-службы госкорпорации Владимир Устименко.
"Для того чтобы мы допустили наших космонавтов в американские корабли, должно быть подтверждено, что полеты на них безопасны. Пока вопросов к компаниям Boeing и SpaceX много", - сказал Устименко журналистам.
       Он подчеркнул, что пока "Роскосмос" не получил подтверждения надежности новых пилотируемых космических аппаратов, космонавты летать на них не будут.
       "Это вполне логично, ведь речь идет о безопасности таких полетов", - отметил официальный представитель госкорпорации.
       Он сообщил, что российские специалисты еженедельно контактируют по данной теме с американскими коллегами. " Мы обсуждаем с ними все существующие нюансы по данной теме. Продолжаем работать, думаю, все вопросы будут решены", - сказал Устименко.
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Касаясь срока полета к Международной космической станции корабля Starliner компании Boeing, ранее планировавшегося на август, он сообщил, что пока американцы не уведомляли российскую сторону о переносе пуска.
       
"Дополнительных мер безопасности, помимо тех, что предусмотрены при подобных ситуациях - штатной стыковке и расстыковке - предпринимать не планируется. Полет планировался на август, новых уточняющих уведомлений от американской стороны пока к нам не поступало", - отметил Устименко.
       Как сообщалось, в начале марта американский беспилотный космический корабль Crew Dragon в тестовом режиме был успешно выведен на орбиту и состыкован с МКС. На борту корабля находился облаченный в скафандр манекен по "имени" Рипли, названный в честь героини фантастического фильма "Чужие". Датчики в его скафандре отслеживали "состояние" командира корабля на всех этапах полета. Корабль также доставил для экипажа МКС 182 кг продовольствия, научного оборудования и материалов.
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      По данным NASA, пилотируемый полет Crew Dragon к МКС может состояться ориентировочно в ноябре 2019 года. До него еще должен быть проведен тестовый запуск корабля в беспилотном режиме по неполной циклограмме, который предназначен для проверки работы системы его аварийного спасения в случае возникновения аварии с ракетой-носителем после старта. Из-за аварии 20 апреля при стендовых испытаниях двигателей системы спасения, в результате которой корабль взорвался, испытательный запуск, намеченный на июнь, был перенесен. В настоящее время его планируется осуществить до конца июля, если компании SpaceX удастся устранить возникшие неполадки.
       Также сообщалось, что первый пилотируемый полет корабль Starliner компаyии Boeing должен выполнить в августе текущего года с мыса Канаверал во Флориде. Корабль должен пристыковаться к МКС, на его борту будут находиться трое астронавтов: представитель Boeing Крис Фергюсон, а также астронавты NASA Майк Финк и Николь Манн. По некоторым данным, этот запуск может быть перенесен на ноябрь из-за неготовности корабля в срок.

Astro Cat

Ну и че cлышно про полет Старлайнера? Август месяц настал.