What’s Next for Future Space Flights: NASA’S Partners Meet Milestones For Developing Future Commercial Spacecraft

With the final Space Shuttle Launch scheduled for the end of this week, the future of space travel in the U.S. is uncertain. As Shuttle Atlantis leaves launch pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center at 11:26AM this Friday, the current economy and budget concerns have left some of the plans for the future of the space program in doubt.

However, according to NASA, the space agency’s industry partners have met all their initial milestones in developing commercial crew transportation capabilities. This is good news which will hopefully reduce the gap in U.S. human spaceflight capability in the future.

This week, NASA posted its first status report on the agency’s Commercial Crew Development 2 (CCDev2) program to its website. The bi-monthly report, written in a non-technical format, aims to keep the average layperson up to date with the progress toward the United State’s next steps in space beyond the space shuttle fleet.

“We’re only 60 days into CCDev 2, and their progress is right on schedule,” said Phil McAlister, NASA’s acting director, commercial spaceflight development.

The program is designed to stimulate efforts within the private sector to develop and demonstrate safe, reliable, and cost-effective space transportation capabilities. NASA’s provides the financial and technical resources as part of the CCDev 2 to help make this happen.

For the report and more information about CCDev2, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/commercial