Space Shuttles May Continue as a Commercial Venture

United Space Alliance

United Space Alliance, a long time contractor for the Kennedy Space Center, may continue to operate the Space Shuttle as a private commercial enterprise. If approved, their plan would use all three remaining shuttles. Atlantis and Endeavor would fly 2 missions a year, while Discovery would be used for parts.

The company admits that their proposed bid to operate the fleet, for $1.5 billion annually, is a long shot at best. The company has the expertise and a proven track record. USA has been the primary contractor for NASA on the shuttle fleet for years.

While the bid is about half of NASA’s shuttle budget for last year, the agency will pay SpaceX about the same amount for a dozen cargo launches to the International Space Station. Their Dragon spacecraft, while smaller than the shuttle, can also ferry up to four crew members at a time to the ISS.

Because SpaceX is still a few years away from being ready to launch crews into space, the bid from USA would help to fill the gap. The current plan is for astronauts to pay for rides on Russian rockets.

So far, NASA has not commented on the bid proposal, and the current plan for the shuttles is to retire them to museums after this year.