CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA and industry partners on Wednesday touted progress they've made developing private spacecraft that could fly astronauts from Florida to the International Space Station by 2017.

Soon after the briefing at Kennedy Space Center, NASA's independent Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel released a report confirming progress while identifying several concerns with the agency's Commercial Crew Program.

"The ASAP is pleased to see that progress has been made with the CCP over the last year, but many challenges remain that will require resolution at the earliest possible time," the panel's 2012 annual report said.

NASA has committed about $1.5 billion to develop commercial crew systems since 2010, with most of that awarded last year to The Boeing Co., Sierra Nevada Corp. and SpaceX.

Those three companies hope to complete system designs in 2014 and could launch crews on test flights as soon as 2015 or 2016.

Among the safety panel's concerns is the possibility that NASA could ask its commercial partners to fly orbital test flights with their own crews before NASA astronauts board the new vehicles.

The optional tests, the report says, raise questions about who would certify their safety and whether NASA could be seen as "irresponsible in its sponsorship/facilitation or tacit acceptance of a high-risk activity."

NASA has told the panel it has no plan to exercise those flights.

Ed Mango, manager of the Kennedy-based commercial crew program, said Wednesday that the commercial crew program's goal was to develop and certify systems that could fly NASA crews to the space station and also enable commercial flights to other destinations.

As such, the agency wanted companies to say when they would be ready to put their own crews at risk.

Originally posted here:

NASA: Commercial-crew flights on track to start in 2017