NASA Orders Second SpaceX Crew Mission, As Space Station Prepares for IDA-2 Installation

By Ben Evans, on July 30th, 2016

The SpaceX Crew Dragon. Photo Credit: Robert Fisher / AmericaSpace

With a little more than a year to go before U.S. astronauts launch aboard a U.S.-built spacecraft, and from U.S. soil, for the first time since the end of the Space Shuttle era, NASA has ordered its second Post-Certification Mission (PCM) from SpaceX. […]

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NASA Outlines Commercial Crew Goals Critical for Upcoming Test Flights

By Emily Carney, on January 20th, 2016

From NASA: “NASA’s Commercial Crew astronauts Doug Hurney, Eric Boe, Bob Behnken, and Suni Williams are working closely with Boeing and SpaceX this year as each company works toward flight tests.” Photo Credit: NASA/James Blair

In 2015, both Boeing and SpaceX—NASA’s Commercial Crew Program (CCP) partners—received orders for spaceflights to restore the United […]

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Boeing Receives Second Post-Certification Commercial Crew Mission

By Ben Evans, on December 19th, 2015

Boeing’s CST-100 “Starliner” spacecraft is depicted here climbing to orbit. The company will begin flying astronauts to and from the International Space Station (ISS) for NASA as soon as 2017. Image Credit: Boeing

For the second time this year, Boeing has received a Post-Certification Mission (PCM) order from NASA to perform a dedicated […]

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SpaceX Receives First Order for Space Station Crew-Exchange Mission from NASA

By Ben Evans, on November 21st, 2015

View inside the piloted Crew Dragon, previously known as the “Dragon V-2”. Image Credits: Robert Fisher / AmericaSpace / SpaceX

Both of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program partners—Boeing and SpaceX—now have mission orders to deliver their first long-duration crews to and from the International Space Station (ISS) in the coming years, thereby restoring the […]

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CST-100 Spacecraft Development Moves Forward in Former Shuttle Hangar

By Ben Evans, on July 29th, 2015

One of two pressurized domes for the “shell” of the Structural Test Article (STA) of Boeing’s CST-100 spacecraft undergoes checkout. Photo Credit: NASA

Less than a year since winning a $4.2 billion slice of the $6.8 billion Commercial Crew transportation Capability (CCtCap) contract—the current phase of NASA’s effort to return U.S. astronauts to […]

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All Hail the (Deputy) Chief: Astronaut Eric Boe Turns 50 Today

By Ben Evans, on October 1st, 2014

Eric Boe, pictured in the pilot’s seat of Shuttle Discovery during the STS-133 mission in February-March 2011. Photo Credit: NASA

“It’s great to have the opportunity to participate in the space program,” astronaut Eric Boe told an interviewer on the eve of STS-133, the final flight of Shuttle Discovery, in February 2011. “It […]

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