Both SpaceX and Boeing say that they are on schedule to make their first test flights of their manned capsules before 2016.
The competition heats up: Both SpaceX and Boeing say that they are on schedule to make their first test flights of their manned capsules before 2016.
Boeing claims they will be able to make their first manned flight in 2016. SpaceX says it will fly manned by 2015.
Boeing, with its CST-100, still aims to demonstrate the seven-person capsule on a three-day manned orbital test flight in 2016, says John Mulholland, vice president and program manager for Commercial Programs. At the recent Space Tech Expo in Long Beach, Calif., he said CST-100 “can be operational as soon as 2016. It is really important for NASA to maintain the ‘no-later than 2017’ launch date. That’s the No. 1 priority and I think NASA, with good reason, wants to maintain competition through the next round. That would be healthy as long as you have the budget to allow that competition in the next round and still fly in 2017.” …
SpaceX Commercial Crew project manager Garrett Reisman says his company’s plan to conduct a pad abort test in December remains on track, paving the way for a test flight to the space station with a non-NASA crew in a version of the Dragon spacecraft in 2015. “What we think we need to complete launch assurance is just over two years, so we could do a test with people on board around mid-2015. That is what we proposed under CCiCAP and it is the trajectory we are on today but,” depending on funding, that may not hold,” he warns.
No one should be surprised if both schedules are not met. For one thing, new rocket engineering takes time and is routinely delayed. For another, the funding from Congress is problematic. The politicians haven’t eliminated the program, but they keep trying to trim it in order to dump more money into the NASA-designed Space Launch System (SLS), which costs ten times as much and doesn’t expect to make its first manned mission until 2021 and will then have a heart-stopping launch rate of one flight every four years.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
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The competition heats up: Both SpaceX and Boeing say that they are on schedule to make their first test flights of their manned capsules before 2016.
Boeing claims they will be able to make their first manned flight in 2016. SpaceX says it will fly manned by 2015.
Boeing, with its CST-100, still aims to demonstrate the seven-person capsule on a three-day manned orbital test flight in 2016, says John Mulholland, vice president and program manager for Commercial Programs. At the recent Space Tech Expo in Long Beach, Calif., he said CST-100 “can be operational as soon as 2016. It is really important for NASA to maintain the ‘no-later than 2017’ launch date. That’s the No. 1 priority and I think NASA, with good reason, wants to maintain competition through the next round. That would be healthy as long as you have the budget to allow that competition in the next round and still fly in 2017.” …
SpaceX Commercial Crew project manager Garrett Reisman says his company’s plan to conduct a pad abort test in December remains on track, paving the way for a test flight to the space station with a non-NASA crew in a version of the Dragon spacecraft in 2015. “What we think we need to complete launch assurance is just over two years, so we could do a test with people on board around mid-2015. That is what we proposed under CCiCAP and it is the trajectory we are on today but,” depending on funding, that may not hold,” he warns.
No one should be surprised if both schedules are not met. For one thing, new rocket engineering takes time and is routinely delayed. For another, the funding from Congress is problematic. The politicians haven’t eliminated the program, but they keep trying to trim it in order to dump more money into the NASA-designed Space Launch System (SLS), which costs ten times as much and doesn’t expect to make its first manned mission until 2021 and will then have a heart-stopping launch rate of one flight every four years.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
This is getting exciting! Rocket business is known for NOT making the due date.
But I believe this RACE will be pushed hard by both Co’s and will be surprisingly close to the dates they say.
Esp w/ NASA extending their contracts w Soyuz till 2016-17.
R&D at its BEST!