国际英语新闻：US Space Program Goes Commercial

Safety is a big concern for the private rocket builders, too. Alan Stern says the companies are not cutting corners to keep costs down or to meet tight deadlines. He says they have a lot to lose if there are accidents.

"If the rockets fail or the capsules have problems, that’s going to affect their future business pretty strongly; in fact it could put them out of business.  And that’s a very strong motivation for any private concern," Stern said.

But there have been problems.  Orbital Sciences Corporation, which has a contract with NASA to deliver supplies to the space station, tried but failed in March to launch a climate satellite aboard its Taurus (XL)  rocket.  The $424 million payload was lost when the clamshell-like structure designed to protect the satellite enroute to orbit failed to open.

It was an exact replay of the company’s 2009 mishap, when a nosecone failure doomed a $270 million carbon-observing satellite. Both Orbital Sciences and NASA are investigating the twin accidents.

In the meantime, the company is continuing work on its Taurus II, an expendable medium class rocket that’s designed to deliver cargo to the International Space Station from a launch pad at NASA’s Wallops Island Facility in Virginia.

Recently, SpaceX announced plans for a demonstration flight of its new heavy lift vehicle, called the Falcon Heavy,  at the end of 2012 from NASA’s Cape Canaveral, Florida facility.
Company CEO Elon Musk says the Falcon Heavy will be one of the biggest rockets ever built.

"175,000 pounds (53 metric tons) is more than a fully loaded Boeing 737 with 136 passengers, luggage and fuel in orbit.  So that is really humongous," Musk said.
Founder Elon Musk believes the rocket will be powerful enough to carry the Dragon capsule to the moon and possibly even Mars.

NASA has just awarded four contracts totaling $270 million to four companies to develop manned space flight capabilities.  In the past, private aerospace companies built spacecraft and other hardware to NASA’s design specifications, with the space agency at the forefront of every decision.

Now, NASA’s Commercial Crew Program manager, Ed Mango, says space vehicles will be designed and owned entirely by the commercial sector, with safety input from the space agency.

"In the end, we will pay that company a certain price to purchase a seat, if you want to look at it this way, purchase a ticket, in order to fly to get our crew from the surface of the Earth to the space station," Mango said.

Mango says those ‘tickets’ won’t be available until the middle of the decade. Until then, NASA will pay Russia $750 million for a dozen round trip seats aboard the Soyuz spacecraft to ferry astronauts and supplies to the International Space Station.