Tweet
Info and rumors are flying left & right in the space community, but it looks like an effort is being mounted by private investors to fund and build a next-generation space shuttle with "similar capabilities" to the retired STS but fully modern.
No NASA involvement or US Govt. funding.
The initial effort was looking to purchase the shuttle(s) Atlantis and/or Endeavour for the effort, but due to their sale and decommissioning that wasn't going to happen.
To have similar capabilities it would have to carry a crew, have an EVA airlock, loft ~20 metric tons in a payload bay and have a robotic arm. One would think this means a spaceplane, but that's not necessarily the case. Obviously not too many details have been released, but a formal program announcement is expected in Q2 of 2012.
The known people involved are impressive and includes Dr. Mary Lynne Dittmar of Dittmar Associates (Houston TX) and The American Astronautical Society. In a previous life she was Chief Scientist and Senior Program Manager for Boeing's Commercial Space Utilization Program, and Manager of the Flight Operations Group of the International Space Station. She's also a Fellow of the United States National Research Society and a member of the Economics Technical Committee of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA).
Whatever this is it'll be interesting.
No NASA involvement or US Govt. funding.
The initial effort was looking to purchase the shuttle(s) Atlantis and/or Endeavour for the effort, but due to their sale and decommissioning that wasn't going to happen.
To have similar capabilities it would have to carry a crew, have an EVA airlock, loft ~20 metric tons in a payload bay and have a robotic arm. One would think this means a spaceplane, but that's not necessarily the case. Obviously not too many details have been released, but a formal program announcement is expected in Q2 of 2012.
The known people involved are impressive and includes Dr. Mary Lynne Dittmar of Dittmar Associates (Houston TX) and The American Astronautical Society. In a previous life she was Chief Scientist and Senior Program Manager for Boeing's Commercial Space Utilization Program, and Manager of the Flight Operations Group of the International Space Station. She's also a Fellow of the United States National Research Society and a member of the Economics Technical Committee of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA).
Whatever this is it'll be interesting.
Comment