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Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) is a human spaceflight development program that is funded by the U.S. government and administered by NASA. CCDev will result in US and international astronauts flying to the International Space Station (ISS) on privately operated crew vehicles. Operational contracts to fly astronauts were awarded in September 2014 to SpaceX and Boeing. An uncrewed test flight was performed by each company in 2019. Space-X's Crew Dragon Demo-1 flight of Dragon 2 arrived at the International Space Station in March 2019 and returned via splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean. Due to a Mission Elapsed Time anomaly, the Boeing Orbital Flight Test of the CST-100 spacecraft failed to reach the station in December 2019, but completed some test objectives and performed a safe airbag landing in the New Mexico desert two days after launch. Pending completion of the demonstration flights, each company is contracted to supply six flights to ISS between 2019 and 2024. The first group of astronauts was announced on 3 August 2018.
Key high-level requirements for the Commercial Crew vehicles include:
After the retirement of STS in 2011, NASA had no domestic vehicles capable of launching astronauts to space.[3] The next major human spaceflight initiative will launch in 2022 as Artemis 2 on the Space Launch System.[4]
In the meantime, NASA continued to send astronauts to the ISS on Soyuz spacecraft seats purchased from Russia.[5] The price has varied over time, with the batch of seats from 2016 to 2017 costing 70.7 million per passenger per flight.[6] The intent of CCDev is to develop safe and reliable commercial ISS crew launch capabilities to replace the Soyuz flights. CCDev follows Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS), an ISS commercial cargo program.[7] CCDev contracts are issued for fixed-price, pay-for-performance milestones.[8]
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.[7][9][10]
NASA awarded development funds to five companies under CCDev 1:
On 18 April 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.[16]
Funded proposals:[17]
Proposals selected without NASA funding:
Proposals not selected:
Commercial Crew integrated Capability (CCiCap) was originally called CCDev 3.[32] For this phase of the program, NASA wanted proposals to be complete, end-to-end concepts of operation, including spacecraft, launch vehicles, launch services, ground and mission operations, and recovery. In September 2011, NASA released a draft request for proposals (RFP).[33]
The final RFP was released on February 7, 2012, with proposals due on March 23, 2012.[34][35]
The funded Space Act Agreements were awarded on August 3, 2012, and amended on August 15, 2013.[36][37]
The selected proposals were announced 3 August 2012:
The first phase of the Certification Products Contract (CPC) involved the development of a certification plan with engineering standards, tests, and analyses.[38]
Winners of funding of phase 1 of the CPC, announced on December 10, 2012, were:[38]
The Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap) is the second phase of the CPC and included the final development, testing and verifications to allow crewed demonstration flights to the ISS.[38] [39] NASA issued the draft CCtCap contract's Request For Proposals (RFP) on 19 July 2013 with a response date of 15 August 2013.[39]
On 16 September 2014, NASA announced that Boeing and SpaceX had received contracts to provide crewed launch services to the ISS. Boeing could receive up to US$4.2 billion, while SpaceX could receive up to US$2.6 billion.[40] In November 2019 NASA published a first cost per seat estimate: US$55 million for SpaceX's Dragon and US$90 million for Boeing's Starliner. Boeing was also granted an additional $287.2 million above the fixed price contract. Seats on Soyuz had an average cost of US$80 million.[41]
Both the CST-100 Starliner and Crew Dragon will fly an uncrewed flight, then a crewed certification flight, then up to six operational flights to the ISS.[42][43]
NASA Commercial Crew. https://handwiki.org/wiki/index.php?curid=1736264
The first flight of the CCDev program was planned to occur in 2015, but insufficient funding caused delays.[44][45][46]
As the spacecraft entered the testing and production phase, technical issues have also caused delays, especially the parachute system, propulsion, and the launch abort system of both capsules.[47]
On 20 April 2019, an issue arose during a static fire test of Crew Dragon.[48] The accident destroyed the capsule which was planned to be used for the In-Flight Abort Test (IFAT).[49] SpaceX confirmed that the capsule exploded.[50] NASA has stated that the explosion will delay the planned in-flight abort and crewed orbital tests.[51]
NASA has ordered twelve operational missions to deliver astronauts to the International Space Station, six with each supplier.[52] Astronaut selections for the first four missions were announced on August 2, 2018.[53]
Spacecraft | Mission | Description | Crew | Date | Outcome |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Dragon 2 | Dragon 2 pad abort test | Pad abort test, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida | None | 6 May 2015 | Success |
Dragon 2 |
Crew Dragon Demo-1
|
Uncrewed test flight. DM-1 launched on 2 March 2019 and docked to ISS PMA-2/IDA-2 docking port a little under 24 hours after launch. The Dragon spent five days docked to ISS before undocking and landing on 8 March 2019. | None | 2 March 2019[54] | Success |
CST-100 Starliner |
Boe-Pad Abort
|
Uncrewed Pad Abort Test | None | 4 November 2019 | Success |
CST-100 Starliner |
Boe-OFT
|
Uncrewed test flight. Was the first flight of an Atlas V with a dual engine Centaur upper stage. Was originally planned to spend eight days docked to ISS before landing. However, Starliner was unable to rendezvous with the station due to the MET anomaly forcing it to enter a lower-than-expected orbit.[55] The spacecraft returned on 22 December 2019 after spending two days in orbit. | None | 20 December 2019[56] | Partial failure due to a MET anomaly. Rendezvous with ISS cancelled. |
Dragon 2 |
In-Flight Abort Test
|
A Falcon 9 booster launched a Dragon 2 capsule from LC-39A to perform an in-flight abort shortly after Max q in order to test Dragon 2's launch abort system. Abort occurred at 84 seconds after launch and Dragon 2 successfully separated from the Falcon 9 and flew away using its SuperDraco thrusters. The Falcon 9 booster disintegrated as a result of aerodynamic forces on hollow interstage not normally exposed to such conditions. Dragon 2 splashed down nine minutes after launch after successfully deploying its four parachutes. | None | 19 January 2020 | Success |
Dragon 2 |
Crew Dragon Demo-2
|
Crewed test flight. Dragon 2 will launch with two crew members and dock to the ISS under 24 hours later. The Dragon will spend one to two weeks docked to the ISS before returning to Earth. | Robert Behnken Douglas Hurley |
April 2020 | Planned |
CST-100 Starliner |
Boe-CFT
|
Extended crewed test flight, might deliver ISS Expedition 62/63 crew to ISS. | Michael Fincke Christopher Ferguson Nicole Aunapu Mann |
NET Mid 2020[57] | Planned |
Spacecraft | Mission | Description | Crew | Date | Outcome |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Crew Dragon | USCV-1 | Deliver ISS Expedition 64/65 crew | Michael S. Hopkins Victor Glover Soichi Noguchi |
July 2020 | Planned |
CST-100 Starliner | USCV-2 | Deliver ISS Expedition 66/67 crew. Would be only the fourth US Spaceflight to have a female Commander. | Sunita Williams Josh Cassada Thomas Pesquet Andrei Borisenko |
December 2020 | Planned |
Crew Dragon | USCV-3 | Will transport four astronauts to the ISS who will spend 6 months aboard the ISS. | May 2021 | Planned |
The first flight of the CCDev program was planned to occur in 2015, but insufficient funding caused delays.[44][46]
For the fiscal year (FY) 2011 budget, US$500 million was requested for the CCDev program, but Congress granted only $270 million.[58] For the FY 2012 budget, $850 million was requested and $406 million approved.[45] For the FY 2013 budget, 830 million was requested and $488 million approved.[59] For the FY 2014 budget, $821 million was requested and $696 million approved.[44][60] In FY 2015, $848 million was requested and $805 million, or 95%, was approved.[61]
The funding of all commercial crew contractors for each phase of the CCP program is as follows—CCtCap values are maxima and include post-development operational flights.
Round (years) |
CCDev1[62] (2010–2011) |
CCDev2[63][64] (2011–2012) |
CCiCap[36][37] (2012–2014) |
CPC1[38] (2013–2014) |
CCtCap[43] (2014-current) |
Total (2010–current[needs update] |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Manufacturers of spacecraft | ||||||
Boeing | 18.0 | 112.9 | 480.0 | 9.9 | 4,200.0 | 4,820.9 |
SpaceX | – | 75.0 | 460.0 | 9.6 | 2,600.0 | 3,144.6 |
Sierra Nevada Corporation | 20.0 | 105.6 | 227.5 | 10.0 | – | 362.1 |
Blue Origin | 3.7 | 22.0 | – | – | – | 25.7 |
Manufacturers of launch vehicles and equipment | ||||||
United Launch Alliance | 6.7 | - | – | – | – | 6.7 |
Paragon Space Development Corporation | 1.4 | – | – | – | – | 1.4 |
Total: | 49.8 | 315.5 | 1,167.5 | 29.6 | 6,800.0 | 8,362.4 |
On November 14, 2019, NASA's inspector general published an auditing report listing per-seat prices of $90 million for Starliner and $55 million for Dragon Crew. With these, Boeing's price is higher than what NASA has paid the Russian space corporation, Roscosmos, for Soyuz spacecraft seats to fly US and partner-nation astronauts to the space station. The report also states that NASA agreed to pay an additional $287.2 million above Boeing's fixed prices to mitigate a perceived 18-month gap in ISS flights anticipated in 2019 and to ensure the contractor continued as a second commercial crew provider, without offering similar opportunities to SpaceX.[65]