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Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap) SpaceX and Boeing Developments

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More Crew launch contracts coming:
Thee comments have a great discussion about Dreamchaser and its possibilities.
Ars technica reports on the current status of Dreamchaser. The initial cargo-only version is planned to launch for the first time next year. It has been funded by NASA. Sierra Space is actively developing the human-rated version which is being privately funded and optimistically hope it is ready in 2026. As I understand it, NASA has no plans to use it with the ISS.

Dreamchaser is an interesting vehicle and may have a future for taking humans to and from a private commercial LEO station. But it seems like a huge challenge to make it cost effective compared to Starship (which of course has yet to be proven out).
 
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Ars technica reports on the current status of Dreamchaser. The initial cargo-only version is planned to launch for the first time next year. It has been funded by NASA. Sierra Space is actively developing the human-rated version which is being privately funded and optimistically hope it is ready in 2026. As I understand it, NASA has no plans to use it with the ISS.

Dreamchaser is an interesting vehicle and may have a future for taking humans to and from a private commercial LEO station. But it seems like a huge challenge to make it cost effective compared to Starship (which of course has yet to be proven out).
That article states the Dreamchaser can ferry 12K lbs to the ISS, and return 4K. That's pretty close to Cargo Dragon's 13.3K lbs up, although it can brin 6,600 lbs back...

It plans on launching on Vulcan, Which, with the additional mass size of its rocket engines and folding wings, it sounds like it would need, I wonder if it could ride aboard a Falcon Heavy if needed...
 
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Dreamchaser is an interesting vehicle and may have a future for taking humans to and from a private commercial LEO station. But it seems like a huge challenge to make it cost effective compared to Starship (which of course has yet to be proven out).
Dreamchaser has one purpose: to make return from LEO convenient and comfortable. It doesn't alter the way we go to space, it doesn't alter the way we move around in space, and it doesn't alter the way we reach the surface of any other bodies. Other vehicles can do a better job. So the question is one of whether a vehicle like Dreamchaser is a practical choice for returning crew to Earth.

If they were dirt cheap, reusable, reliable and automated, I could see them as a kind of simple lifeboat for returning to Earth. Send a bunch of them up as cargo on a Starship, then park them at a LEO station in a simple garage (to protect the thermal tiles). Crews wanting to return to Earth would travel to the LEO station, enter the lifeboat, press the big red button and wait until they're safely on the ground. Send it back up when there's available space on a cargo Starship.

Use solid rocket motors for deorbit, monopropellant for orientation, automate everything, and perhaps even skip life support, requiring crew to wear their custom suit with a couple hours of air. The solid rocket motors are either going to fire or not. If not, you thruster your way back to the LEO station, dock, and resolve the problem, with the understanding that you have a misfire of a solid rocket motor.

Ultimately, I figure that Sierra Space will end up as a Wikipedia entry. They're carrying on with the funding that they have from the government, but that'll dry up. Unless they have an angel investor like Blue Origin or SpaceX has, they're going to go away. Water landing of capsules will suffice for a decade or two until the big players come up with something better, like human rating the Starship flip.
 
Dreamchaser has one purpose: to make return from LEO convenient and comfortable.
Agreed and that is why I wrote that it may have a future for taking humans to and from a private commercial LEO station. Because it’s comfy and oh yes; it looks cool. It could be an effective marketing tool.

But for other purposes? Probably not.
 
Private astronaut mission likely first to use SpaceX’s new crew access tower Reports Spaceflight Now.

SpaceX is getting close to completing the new crew access tower at SLC-40, which NASA wanted as a backup to LC-39A. And the new tower is going to make it much easier for SpaceX to support more Crew Dragon launches. The first one from the new tower is scheduled to be the third Axiom Space mission, planned for January 2024.

IMG_0341.jpeg
 
Great article about Dragon capsules:

"Stich said NASA and SpaceX could settle on an intermediate number of flights, somewhere between five and 15, when they re-certify the Dragon spaceships. A later round of testing and reviews could eventually get to SpaceX's 15-flight goal. "I would like to get out to seven to 10 flights for Dragon, but we'll see where we get," he said."
 
Great article about Dragon capsules:

"Stich said NASA and SpaceX could settle on an intermediate number of flights, somewhere between five and 15, when they re-certify the Dragon spaceships. A later round of testing and reviews could eventually get to SpaceX's 15-flight goal. "I would like to get out to seven to 10 flights for Dragon, but we'll see where we get," he said."


They are looking at where the limits for both F9's and Dragon...

I also found it interesting that their flight cadence is more than even SpaceX planned on:

The Dragon fleet is flying more often than SpaceX or NASA originally anticipated. The main reason for this is that Boeing, NASA's other commercial crew contractor, is running about four years behind SpaceX in getting to its first astronaut launch on the Starliner spacecraft.
 
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TBH, I am surprised that they are going at all.
Oh, there's no way they can shut this one down. Multiple countries, and especially China, are invested in a presence on the Moon. The prior iterations of this sort of thing were cancelled because there was no race. Now there's a race, and we're back to Apollo all over again. Bureaucrats never change. Prestige. National pride.
 
With the obligatory "I hope Boeing checked the door bolts" childishness in the comments. This is a cost-plus contract, so the execs are undoubtedly telling their people to go slow, be thorough, and be scrupulous about all safety checks. Twice. Why not; taxpayers are footing the bill. Well most of it. Apparently we're spending a tad more than we're bringing in. Don't let the 6.3% number in this link fool you; in 2023, outlays exceeded revenues by 38%.

 
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And another Ars article. This time, it's about an odd little event that took place during the third ISS resupply mission with a cargo Dragon. Worth a look just for the picture. I didn't see a thread for cargo discussions.


I thought that article was funny... small LOX leak? Meh...just throw some water on it an make an ice band aid... it should be fine... lol
 
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