End of shuttle program could be boon for startup SpaceX, others
Via Scoop.it – New Space: A New Era In Space Exploration
(Reuters) – After the U.S. space shuttle program ends this month, NASA will rely on Russia and its Soyuz craft to deliver Americans to the International Space Station — at a cost of more than $50 million a seat.
That could change relatively soon as three companies develop commercial space taxis to launch from the United States — Boeing Co, Space Exploration Technologies, also known as SpaceX, and Sierra Nevada Corp.
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Boeing and SpaceX both believe they should be ready for a crewed test of their two respective vehicles in about 3 years. Sierra Nevada’s Dream Chaser winged vehicle is coming along quite nicely as well. Unfortunately, all of this could be jeopardized by the House Appropriations Committee’s latest ill-advised recommendations to cut NASA’s FY2012 Budget by as much as $2 billion. The proposed budget cuts would also cancel the James Webb Space Telescope; the Hubble telescope’s embattled successor. It’s true that the JWST is behind schedule and the victim of serious program mismanagement, but
this in itself does not fully justify the cancellation of a project that could
potentially contribute as much to our understanding of astrophysics and cosmology as the Hubble itself did. If Congress is really serious about budget cuts, then they should consider the so-called Space Launch System; a proposed Super Heavy Lift Vehicle that the Senate is
compelling NASA to develop even though said vehicle as of this date has no clearly defined mission. In addition, each launch of the SLS is
projected to cost taxpayers as much as $1 BILLION! If we really need
heavy lift that badly then let’s purchase it from private industry for a
much more reasonable cost. The proposed Falcon Heavy from SpaceX will lift 53 metric tons to low earth orbit for about $125 million per
flight. 53 metric tons is less than half the proposed tonnage of the
SLS, but I’m betting that if we could erect a giant 347-foot long space
station in low earth orbit with less than 30 tons per mission using the Space Shuttle, then 53 tons per flight to the same destination should be more than enough.
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