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Development of the Commercial Crew Program
Development of the Commercial Crew Program (CCDev) began in the second round of the program, which was rescoped from a smaller technology development program for human spaceflight to a competitive development program that would produce the spacecraft to be used to provide crew transportation services to and from the International Space Station (ISS). To implement the program, NASA awarded a series of competitive fixed-price contracts to private vendors starting in 2011. Operational contracts to fly astronauts were awarded in September 2014 to SpaceX and Boeing, and NASA expected each company to complete development and achieve crew rating in 2017. Each company performed an uncrewed orbital test flight in 2019.
SpaceX's Crew Dragon Demo-1 2019 flight of Dragon 2 arrived at the International Space Station in March 2019 and returned via splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean. After completion of its test series, a Crew Dragon spacecraft made its first operational Commercial Crew Program flight, SpaceX Crew-1. The flight launched on November 16, 2020. As of September 2023[update] SpaceX has completed seven successful CCP flights with another, SpaceX Crew-8, currently in progress.[needs update] It is contracted with NASA for fourteen operational flights total to the ISS.
The 2019 Boeing Orbital Flight Test of the CST-100 Starliner spacecraft failed to reach the ISS in December 2019. The second test flight, Boeing Orbital Flight Test 2, occurred successfully in May 2022. Pending completion of its demonstration flights, Boeing is contracted to supply six operational flights to the ISS. The first group of astronauts was announced on August 3, 2018. The first Starliner crewed flight test launched on June 5, 2024. Starliner successfully docked with the station on June 6, 2024, after suffering several helium leaks and thruster malfunctions. Due to these issues Starliner's return to earth was delayed initially to June 26, 2024, then indefinitely. On August 24, 2024 NASA administrator Bill Nelson made the decision to send the Starliner crew back home on SpaceX's Crew Dragon.
Key high-level requirements for the Commercial Crew vehicles include:
After the retirement of STS in 2011 and the cancellation of the Constellation program, NASA had no domestic vehicles capable of launching astronauts to space. Artemis, NASA's next major human spaceflight initiative, was scheduled to launch an uncrewed qualification flight in 2016, with an Orion spacecraft atop a Space Launch System (SLS) booster. The NASA had no human-qualified spacecraft available, and in any event SLS/Orion would be too expensive for routine flights to the ISS. In the meantime, NASA continued to send astronauts to the ISS on Soyuz spacecraft seats purchased from Russia. The price varied over time, with the batch of seats from 2016 to 2017 costing $70.7 million per passenger per flight. Artemis continued to slip, with the first uncrewed test flight scheduled for 2022.
The CCDev program was initiated to develop safe and reliable commercial ISS crew launch capabilities to replace the Soyuz flights. CCDev followed Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS), an ISS commercial cargo program. CCDev contracts were issued for fixed-price, pay-for-performance milestones. CCDev was implemented in several phases. CCDev 1 contracts were for development of concepts and technologies. CCDev 2 contracts were for actual vehicle designs. CCiCap contracts were for designs of complete end-to-end crew transportation hardware and services. CPC phase 1 contracts were for the development of a full certification plan. Finally CCtCap contracts were awarded for actual demonstration of crewed transportation services, which included development, testing, and production of the required hardware followed by operational flights to the ISS.
Commercial Crew Development phase 1 (CCDev 1) consisted of $50 million awarded in 2010 to five US companies to develop human spaceflight concepts and technologies. NASA awarded development funds to five companies under CCDev 1:
On April 18, 2011, NASA awarded nearly $270 million to four companies for developing U.S. vehicles that could fly astronauts after the Space Shuttle fleet's retirement. Funded proposals:
Hub AI
Development of the Commercial Crew Program AI simulator
(@Development of the Commercial Crew Program_simulator)
Development of the Commercial Crew Program
Development of the Commercial Crew Program (CCDev) began in the second round of the program, which was rescoped from a smaller technology development program for human spaceflight to a competitive development program that would produce the spacecraft to be used to provide crew transportation services to and from the International Space Station (ISS). To implement the program, NASA awarded a series of competitive fixed-price contracts to private vendors starting in 2011. Operational contracts to fly astronauts were awarded in September 2014 to SpaceX and Boeing, and NASA expected each company to complete development and achieve crew rating in 2017. Each company performed an uncrewed orbital test flight in 2019.
SpaceX's Crew Dragon Demo-1 2019 flight of Dragon 2 arrived at the International Space Station in March 2019 and returned via splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean. After completion of its test series, a Crew Dragon spacecraft made its first operational Commercial Crew Program flight, SpaceX Crew-1. The flight launched on November 16, 2020. As of September 2023[update] SpaceX has completed seven successful CCP flights with another, SpaceX Crew-8, currently in progress.[needs update] It is contracted with NASA for fourteen operational flights total to the ISS.
The 2019 Boeing Orbital Flight Test of the CST-100 Starliner spacecraft failed to reach the ISS in December 2019. The second test flight, Boeing Orbital Flight Test 2, occurred successfully in May 2022. Pending completion of its demonstration flights, Boeing is contracted to supply six operational flights to the ISS. The first group of astronauts was announced on August 3, 2018. The first Starliner crewed flight test launched on June 5, 2024. Starliner successfully docked with the station on June 6, 2024, after suffering several helium leaks and thruster malfunctions. Due to these issues Starliner's return to earth was delayed initially to June 26, 2024, then indefinitely. On August 24, 2024 NASA administrator Bill Nelson made the decision to send the Starliner crew back home on SpaceX's Crew Dragon.
Key high-level requirements for the Commercial Crew vehicles include:
After the retirement of STS in 2011 and the cancellation of the Constellation program, NASA had no domestic vehicles capable of launching astronauts to space. Artemis, NASA's next major human spaceflight initiative, was scheduled to launch an uncrewed qualification flight in 2016, with an Orion spacecraft atop a Space Launch System (SLS) booster. The NASA had no human-qualified spacecraft available, and in any event SLS/Orion would be too expensive for routine flights to the ISS. In the meantime, NASA continued to send astronauts to the ISS on Soyuz spacecraft seats purchased from Russia. The price varied over time, with the batch of seats from 2016 to 2017 costing $70.7 million per passenger per flight. Artemis continued to slip, with the first uncrewed test flight scheduled for 2022.
The CCDev program was initiated to develop safe and reliable commercial ISS crew launch capabilities to replace the Soyuz flights. CCDev followed Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS), an ISS commercial cargo program. CCDev contracts were issued for fixed-price, pay-for-performance milestones. CCDev was implemented in several phases. CCDev 1 contracts were for development of concepts and technologies. CCDev 2 contracts were for actual vehicle designs. CCiCap contracts were for designs of complete end-to-end crew transportation hardware and services. CPC phase 1 contracts were for the development of a full certification plan. Finally CCtCap contracts were awarded for actual demonstration of crewed transportation services, which included development, testing, and production of the required hardware followed by operational flights to the ISS.
Commercial Crew Development phase 1 (CCDev 1) consisted of $50 million awarded in 2010 to five US companies to develop human spaceflight concepts and technologies. NASA awarded development funds to five companies under CCDev 1:
On April 18, 2011, NASA awarded nearly $270 million to four companies for developing U.S. vehicles that could fly astronauts after the Space Shuttle fleet's retirement. Funded proposals: