NASA is currently developing requirements for commercially owned and operated destinations that would support NASA, international, and private astronauts safely in low-Earth orbit. The agency is requesting feedback from industry to evaluate the technical and financial feasibility of the requirements.
NASA’s Commercial Low-Earth Orbit Development Program has released the first of several Request for Information (RFI) documents that contain draft crew certification requirements, and a white paper documenting the agency’s current assumptions and expectations on commercial destinations. This RFI is intended to gather industry comments on the feasibility of the requirements and assumptions to aid NASA in the development of safe, reliable and cost-effective space destination capabilities.
As part of the process, NASA will hold an informational briefing on May 12 to provide industry with a top-level summary of the agency’s documents and expectations from its review. RSVPs to participate in the briefing are due by 5 p.m. EDT May 11.
NASA plans to release subsequent drafts of this document as well as drafts of the other program documents throughout the next few years to continue to provide insight to industry and to gather feedback for NASA.
Certification is an important step in NASA’s efforts for the development of commercial low-Earth orbit destinations.
NASA’s Commercial Low-Earth Orbit Development program oversees the agency’s multiphase strategy to spur the development of new commercial low-Earth orbit destinations and supporting systems, including end-to-end services, crew and cargo spacecraft, launch vehicles, and ground systems from commercial industry. NASA’s goal is to create a robust economy in low-Earth orbit where NASA can be one of many customers as the agency turns more focus to the exploration of the Moon and eventually Mars.
For more on NASA’s efforts to develop a robust low-Earth orbit economy, visit: