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GAO denies Sierra Nevadas legal challenge of NASA space contract

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The Government Accountability Office on Monday denied Sierra Nevada Corp.s challenge to a major NASA contract to ferry astronauts to the International Space Station, saying the agency acted properly in issuing the $6.8 billion award last year.

Last fall, NASA awarded contracts to Boeing and SpaceX to launch a series of missions that would allow the United States, for the first time since the space shuttle was retired three years ago, to launch astronauts into space from U.S. soil.

The so-called commercial crew contract would end U.S. reliance on Russia, which has been taking American astronauts to the space station at a cost of more than $70million a trip.

Boeings contract is worth as much as $4.2 billion; SpaceX, which said it could perform the work for far less, was awarded a contract valued at $2.6 billion.

In its filed protest, Sierra Nevada said that there had been serious questions and inconsistencies in the source selection process. Its own proposal was the second-lowest-priced, it argued, while it achieved mission suitability scores comparable to the other two proposals.

The company argued that by using its own special vehicle, the government could have saved up to $900 million.

Unlike SpaceX and Boeing, which would use capsules to dock to the space station, Sierra Nevada proposed using a reusable miniature shuttle, or space plane, called the Dream Chaser. The craft provides a wider range of capabilities and value, Sierra Nevada had said.

In announcing the GAO decision, Ralph White, the agencys managing associate general counsel, said that NASA recognized Boeings higher price but also considered Boeings proposal to be the strongest of all three proposals in terms of technical approach, management approach and past performance, and to offer the crew transportation system with most utility and highest value to the government.

The agency also found several favorable features in Sierra Nevadas proposal, but ultimately concluded that SpaceXs lower price made it a better value.

Sierra Nevada is still evaluating the decision, the company said in a statement Monday. While the outcome was not what SNC expected we maintain our belief that the Dream Chaser spacecraft is technically very capable, reliable and was qualified to win based on NASAs high ratings of the space system.

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GAO denies Sierra Nevadas legal challenge of NASA space contract

SpaceX postpones rocket launch due to 'actuator drift' problem

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SpaceX called off its early morning rocket launch to the International Space Station, citing a last minute malfunction.

NASA said the SpaceX team had detected an actuator drift, causing the launch to be scrubbed. The next possible launch time is Friday at 2:09 a.m. Pacific time.

The launch byElon Musk's SpaceX could ultimately be most notable for what happens as it returns to Earth.

Besides delivering 5,000 pounds of food, equipment and experiments to the space station, SpaceX engineers are planning to attempt what has never been done. Instead of letting the rocket's towering first stage disintegrate upon reentry to the atmosphere, they plan to land it on a barge floating in the ocean.

The rocket was originally scheduled for liftoff at 3:20 a.m. Pacific time Tuesday from Cape Canaveral, Fla. It's the first such mission since Oct. 28, when a supply ship that another company, Orbital Sciences, was operating for NASA exploded just seconds after leaving the launchpad.

Typically, the rocket's first stage, which includes the engines needed to blast it to space, is allowed to fall back to Earth after separating from its payload. After burning up in the atmosphere, it lands in pieces in the ocean or remote places.

But Musk wants to land the 14-story first stage, which includes nine engines, and reuse it on a future flight.

If successful, the feat could transform space travel by sharply lowering the cost.

"To say it would be revolutionary is absolutely true," said Charles Lurio, a Boston-based space analyst who publishes the Lurio Report. "It could be a race toward the bottom in terms of cost."

The space shuttle was reusable, Lurio said, but it was extraordinarily expensive to rebuild and refurbish once it was back on Earth.

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SpaceX postpones rocket launch due to 'actuator drift' problem

GAO denies Sierra Nevadas legal challenge to NASA space contract

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The Government Accountability Office on Monday denied Sierra Nevada Corp.s challenge to a major NASA contract to ferry astronauts to the International Space Station, saying the agency acted properly in issuing the $6.8 billion award last year.

Last fall, NASA awarded contracts to Boeing and SpaceX to launch a series of missions that would allow the United States, for the first time since the space shuttle was retired three years ago, to launch astronauts into space from U.S. soil.

The so-called commercial crew contract would end U.S. reliance on Russia, which has been taking American astronauts to the space station at a cost of more than $70million a trip.

Boeings contract is worth as much as $4.2 billion; SpaceX, which said it could perform the work for far less, was awarded a contract valued at $2.6 billion.

In its filed protest, Sierra Nevada said that there had been serious questions and inconsistencies in the source selection process. Its own proposal was the second-lowest-priced, it argued, while it achieved mission suitability scores comparable to the other two proposals.

The company argued that by using its own special vehicle, the government could have saved up to $900 million.

Unlike SpaceX and Boeing, which would use capsules to dock to the space station, Sierra Nevada proposed using a reusable miniature shuttle, or space plane, called the Dream Chaser. The craft provides a wider range of capabilities and value, Sierra Nevada had said.

In announcing the GAO decision, Ralph White, the agencys managing associate general counsel, said that NASA recognized Boeings higher price but also considered Boeings proposal to be the strongest of all three proposals in terms of technical approach, management approach and past performance, and to offer the crew transportation system with most utility and highest value to the government.

The agency also found several favorable features in Sierra Nevadas proposal, but ultimately concluded that SpaceXs lower price made it a better value.

Sierra Nevada is still evaluating the decision, the company said in a statement Monday. While the outcome was not what SNC expected we maintain our belief that the Dream Chaser spacecraft is technically very capable, reliable and was qualified to win based on NASAs high ratings of the space system.

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GAO denies Sierra Nevadas legal challenge to NASA space contract

SpaceX calls off launch to space station at last minute

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A Falcon 9 rocket carrying the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft sits at launch complex 40 after an attempted early morning launch was scrubbed due to technical issues at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Fla. on Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2015. The countdown was halted with just over a minute remaining until launch. (AP Photo/Terry Renna) ( Terry Renna )

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- SpaceX called off a supply flight to the International Space Station on Tuesday because of rocket trouble, another delay in the delivery of groceries and overdue Christmas presents.

The countdown was halted just over a minute before launch when a steering mechanism in the rocket malfunctioned -- "behaving strangely," as SpaceX chief Elon Musk noted via Twitter.

The soonest SpaceX can try again to launch the unmanned Falcon rocket is Friday morning, provided it can quickly fix the problem.

NASA took the latest shipment delay in stride, while the company faced three more days of anxious waiting for its unprecedented rocket-landing test -- attempting to fly back the main booster to a platform in the ocean.

The Dragon capsule is loaded with more than 5,000 pounds of food, science experiments and equipment for an upcoming series of spacewalks, as well as belated holiday surprises for the six station astronauts. The station pantry took a hit when another company's supply ship was destroyed in a launch explosion a few months ago.

Space station commander Butch Wilmore said the six crew members ran out of condiments a month ago, and he's yearning for some yellow mustard to spice up the food. He and his crewmates were watching the launch countdown just before sunrise live via a video feed from Mission Control in Houston.

"Certainly, there's a little bit of disappointment because it had fresh fruit and those types of things that we're all interested in getting," Wilmore said in an interview with The Associated Press after the postponement. "But they'll get off the ground here in a couple of days and it will all be great."

SpaceX officials said one of two motors needed for rocket thrust steering of the second stage was moving when it should have been still. If controllers had not aborted the launch, computers likely would have done so closer to flight time, officials said.

Once the Dragon is on its way, the California-based company will try to fly the first-stage booster rocket to a platform in the Atlantic. No one has ever pulled off such a touchdown. Normally, the boosters are discarded at sea.

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SpaceX calls off launch to space station at last minute

Student Scientists Persevere, Ready to Launch Experiments to Space Station

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Students will look to the skies this week when SpaceX's fifth commercial resupply services (CRS) mission to the International Space Station lifts off at 6:20 a.m. EST Tuesday, Jan. 6, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft will carry scientific research conceived and designed by students who are learning first-hand what it takes to conduct research in space.

Eighteen Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP) teams worked to prepare the investigations in time to fly to the space station. The teams previously had their research aboard Orbital Sciences' Antares rocket, which suffered a failure during launch in October.

"I try to teach students, when I speak to them, not to be afraid of failure. An elementary school student once told me, when I asked for a definition of success, that success is taking failure and turning it inside out. It is important that we rebound, learn from these events and try again -- and that's a great lesson for students," said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. "I am delighted that most of the students will get to see their investigations re-flown on tomorrows SpaceX mission. Perseverance is a critical skill in science and the space business."

SSEP managers and supporters worked to ensure the students' experiments were prepared and ready for the next available launch. The student experiments were rebuilt and shipped to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida for stowage aboard SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft, destined for the space station.

"Failure happens in science, and what we do in the face of that failure defines who we are," said Jeff Goldstein, director of the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education, which oversees SSEP in partnership with NanoRacks LLC and, for international participation, the Arthur C. Clarke Institute for Space Education. "NASA and NanoRacks moved mountains to get us on the next launch, SpaceX CRS-5. We faced an insanely tight turnaround, but all the student teams stepped up to the plate."

This unplanned lesson in real-world science fits with SSEP's goal of immersing and engaging students and their teachers in conducting authentic space science, just like professional investigators.

The student experiments will investigate a range of topics from a crystal growth study that will enable students to learn more about how fluids act and form into crystals in the absence of gravity to how microgravity affect milk spoilage. This set of student experiments collectively is known as Yankee Clipper and is the eighth flight opportunity associated with the SSEP.

The Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), manager of the U.S. National Laboratory on the space station, is a national sponsor for SSEP and funds nine of the Yankee Clipper investigations. Additionally, CASIS is committed to re-flying six student experiments from its National Design Challenge program that were lost with Antares.

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Student Scientists Persevere, Ready to Launch Experiments to Space Station

Three Point Perspective (preview) by Winston Chmielinski – Video

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Three Point Perspective (preview) by Winston Chmielinski
Yann Arthus-Bertrand #39;s freely-distributed environmental documentary, #39;Home #39;, serves as the backdrop to a pre-recording of the International Space Station #39;s live video stream, which launched...

By: Winston Chmielinski

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Three Point Perspective (preview) by Winston Chmielinski - Video

Star Citizen Sunday – Zero-G Training, FPS Module Space Station + More – Video

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Star Citizen Sunday - Zero-G Training, FPS Module Space Station + More
Keep up with all the news over the past week from CIG #39;s upcoming epic space sim, Star Citizen. In this weeks show, we have 10 for the Producers, episode 2, we see how the FPS demo location...

By: SuperMacBrothers

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Star Citizen Sunday - Zero-G Training, FPS Module Space Station + More - Video


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