Private Supply Ships Vital for Space Vision, NASA Chief Says

[Mark Reiff <markreiff@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

FYI,

"Private Supply Ships Vital for Space Vision, NASA Chief Says"
Space.com
http://www.space.com/news/051116_aas_commercial.html

: Commercial space station cargo ships, crew ferries and other
: spacecraft will prove a vital cog in NASA’s engine for future space
: exploration, the agency’s top official said Tuesday.

: “We want to be able to buy these services from American industry,”
: NASA chief Michael Griffin told American Astronautics Society (AAS)
: during its annual conference here, adding that the first space
: station resupply proposals are expected this fall. “It will not be
: government business as usual.”

: Commercial cargo and crew ships to the International Space Station
: (ISS) are just the tip of what Griffin dubbed ‘the dawn of the true
: space age,’ an era which could include private fueling depots in
: low-Earth orbit to aid NASA’s plan to return astronauts to the
: Moon.

: “It is exactly the type of enterprise which should be left to
: industry and the [commercial] marketplace,” Griffin said of the
: fuel depot.

: Relying on additional commercial space services rather than its own
: infrastructure may be a boon for NASA.

: “NASA cannot succeed alone in pursuing the exploration vision,”
: said Courtney Stadd, a former NASA chief of staff and White House
: liaison, adding that the agency already has its hands full
: sustaining the ISS while working to develop new cargo and human-
: rated spacecraft and rockets for Moon and Mars missions. “It’s a
: breathtakingly full dance card.”

: The agency should embrace partnerships with commercial industry and
: the international community because “any misstep in human
: spaceflight could spell a very long hiatus in human-driven
: exploration in the U.S.,” Stadd said.

: NASA has already eaten into its ISS research budget to fund the
: station’s completion and the development of the Crew Exploration
: Vehicle (CEV) – the shuttle’s planned successor.

markreiff@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>

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