13th Annual FAA Commercial Space Transportation Conference

Jeff Foust @jeff_foust

"'Shooting people my favorite pastime' - Russia's Medvedev" http://is.gd/87zll [it's not what you're probably thinking…]

Jeff Foust @jeff_foust

"…and we'll look back in amazement to the days when cumbersome national agencies" monopolized space exploration: http://is.gd/891zG

Jeff Foust @jeff_foust

#astconf scheduling note: Ken Bowersox to speak at 8am instead of Lori Garver, who will take his luncheon speaking slot.

Jeff Foust @jeff_foust

Ken Bowersox: keys to SpaceX mission assurance include flat mgmt structure and in-house production of key parts. #astconf

Jeff Foust @jeff_foust

Bowersox: if you have people in the vehicle, they want to have a vote on what's going on - ability to control the spacecraft. #astconf

Jeff Foust @jeff_foust

Bowersox: SpaceX goal is to have the safest, most reliable, and most economical access to space - in that order. #astconf

Jeff Foust @jeff_foust

Bowersox: Dragon designed to land on three parachutes, but even under 1 landing rate still slower than Apollo. #astconf

Jeff Foust @jeff_foust

Bowersox: humans are not incompatible with space, even 0-g; we'll find it's where we're meant to go. #astconf

Jeff Foust @jeff_foust

Bowersox: I went into space because I believed I was laying the building blocks for future human expansion into the universe. #astconf

Jeff Foust @jeff_foust

Bowersox: early Dragon flights should be done by small company crews; later crew mix will depend on training required. #astconf

Jeff Foust @jeff_foust

Bowersox did not rule out having a customer (NASA) command a comm'l mission, although perhaps at a premium price. #astconf

Jeff Foust @jeff_foust

Bowersox: don't think there's much difference between SpaceX approach to safety and NASA human rating standards. #astconf

Jeff Foust @jeff_foust

Q: how do NASA astronauts think about being comm'l passengers? Bowersox: mission specialists won't mind, pilots may need to adapt #astconf

Jeff Foust @jeff_foust

NASA's Alan Lindenmoyer: SpaceX has completed 16 of 22 COTS milestones for $248M, Orbital 9 of 19 for $130M. #astconf

Jeff Foust @jeff_foust

Lindenmoyer: NASA completing "1st pass" of comm'l human rating requirements in coming weeks, will then solicit industry feedback #astconf

Jeff Foust @jeff_foust

Lindenmoyer: "amazing" number of responses to CCDev; impressed by breadth and depth of proposls. Very difficult to downselect. #astconf

Jeff Foust @jeff_foust

Lindenmoyer: Blue Origin CCDev funding for concept for bi-conic crew vehicle that could be launched on Atlas 5 402. (!) #astconf

Jeff Foust @jeff_foust

Kathy Lueders, NASA: SpaceX authorized for 3 ISS CRS missions so far, 1st scheduled for 5/2011; Orbital for 2, dates tbd. #astconf

Jeff Foust @jeff_foust

Max Vozoff, SpaceX: rolling Falcon 9 to the pad in the coming wk. Deliberately cagey about launch date: could be as soon as mid-Mar #astconf

Jeff Foust @jeff_foust

Vozoff: FAA license for first Falcon 9 launch expected in a couple weeks. #astconf

Jeff Foust @jeff_foust

Vozoff reiterates that SpaceX ready to do crew missions 2.5-3 years after funding is turned on, via COTS-D option or other means. #astconf

Jeff Foust @jeff_foust

Frank Culbertson, Orbital: 1st Taurus 2/Cygnus launch planned for "late winter, early spring" 2011; 2nd in late 2011. #astconf

Jeff Foust @jeff_foust

Culbertson: long-term goal is a permanent human presence in space, and not just with ISS. #astconf

Jeff Foust @jeff_foust

Lindenmoyer: surprised by language in budget proposal for comm'l human spaceflight; working continuously now on how to implement it #astconf

Jeff Foust @jeff_foust

Gene Stansbery, JSC: replace on average 1-2 windows per shuttle mission because of MMOD damage. #astconf