Development of the Commercial Crew Program began in the second round of the Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) program, which was rescoped from a technology development program for

human spaceflight Human spaceflight (also referred to as manned spaceflight or crewed spaceflight) is spaceflight with a crew or passengers aboard a spacecraft, often with the spacecraft being operated directly by the onboard human crew. Spacecraft can also be ...

to a competitive development program that would produce the spacecraft to be used in the

Commercial Crew Program The Commercial Crew Program (CCP) provides commercially-operated crew transportation service to and from the International Space Station (ISS) under contract to NASA, conducting crew rotations between the expeditions of the International ...

to provide crew transportation services to and from the International Space Station (ISS). To implement the program NASA awarded a series of competitive fixed-price contracts to private vendors starting in 2011. Operational contracts to fly astronauts were awarded in September 2014 to SpaceX and

Boeing The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and produc ...

. Each company performed an uncrewed orbital test flight in 2019, and operational flights started in November 2020. Both_commercial_Crew_vehicles_Crew_Dragon_and_Starliner_docked_to_ports_on_harmony_module_at_the_same_time

Both_commercial_Crew_vehicles_Crew_Dragon_and_Starliner_docked_to_ports_on_harmony_module_at_the_same_time

SpaceX's

Crew Dragon Demo-1 Crew Dragon Demo-1 (officially Crew Demo-1, SpaceX Demo-1, or Demonstration Mission-1) was the first orbital test of the Dragon 2 spacecraft. This first spaceflight was an uncrewed mission that launched on 2 March 2019 at 07:49:03 UTC, and a ...

2019 flight of

Dragon 2 Dragon 2 is a class of partially reusable spacecraft developed and manufactured by American aerospace manufacturer SpaceX, primarily for flights to the International Space Station (ISS). SpaceX has also launched private missions such as Insp ...

arrived at the International Space Station in March 2019 and returned via splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean. After completion of its test series, a Crew Dragon spacecraft made its first operational Commercial Crew Program flight, SpaceX Crew-1. The flight launched on 16 November 2020. SpaceX has since completed two more successful CCP flights, with another,

SpaceX Crew-4 SpaceX Crew-4 was the Crew Dragon's fourth NASA Commercial Crew operational flight, and its seventh overall crewed orbital flight. The mission launched on 27 April 2022 at 07:52 UTC before docking with the International Space Station (ISS) a ...

, currently in progress. It is contracted for five additional flights to ISS under the program. The 2019

Boeing Orbital Flight Test The Boeing Starliner Orbital Flight Test (also known as Boe-OFT) was the first orbital mission of the CST-100 Starliner spacecraft, conducted by Boeing as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. The mission was planned to be an eight-day tes ...

of the

CST-100 Starliner The Boeing CST-100 Starliner
is a class of two partially Boeing Orbital Flight Test 2 The Boeing Orbital Flight Test-2 (also known as Boe OFT-2) was a repeat of Boeing's unsuccessful first Orbital Flight Test (OFT-1) of its Starliner spacecraft. The uncrewed mission was part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. OFT-2, using Sta ...

, occurred successfully in May 2022. Pending completion of its demonstration flights, Boeing is contracted to supply six operational flights to ISS. The first group of astronauts was announced on 3 August 2018. Commercial Crew Program vehicles

Requirements

Key high-level requirements for the Commercial Crew vehicles include: *Safely deliver and return four crew members and their equipment to the International Space Station (ISS) *Provide assured crew return in the event of an emergency *Serve as a 24-hour safe haven in the event of an emergency *Capable of remaining docked to the station for 210 days

Background

After the retirement of STS in 2011, NASA had no domestic vehicles capable of launching astronauts to space.

Artemis In ancient Greek mythology and religion, Artemis (; grc-gre, Ἄρτεμις) is the goddess of the hunt, the wilderness, wild animals, nature, vegetation, childbirth, care of children, and chastity. She was heavily identified with Sel ...

, NASA's next major human spaceflight initiative, was scheduled to launch an uncrewed qualification flight in 2016, with an

Orion spacecraft Orion (officially Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle or Orion MPCV) is a partially reusable crewed spacecraft used in NASA's Artemis program. The spacecraft consists of a Crew Module (CM) space capsule designed by Lockheed Martin and the Eur ...

atop a

Space Launch System The Space Launch System (SLS) is an American super heavy-lift expendable launch vehicle developed by NASA. As of 2022, SLS has the highest payload capacity of any rocket in operational service, as well as the greatest liftoff thrust of any ...

(SLS) booster. The NASA had no human-qualified spacecraft available, and in any event SLS/Orion would be too expensive for routine flights to the ISS. In the meantime, NASA continued to send astronauts to the ISS on

Soyuz Soyuz is a transliteration of the Cyrillic text Союз ( Russian and Ukrainian, 'Union'). It can refer to any union, such as a trade union (''profsoyuz'') or the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (Сою́з Сове́тских Социали� ...

spacecraft seats purchased from Russia. The price varied over time, with the batch of seats from 2016 to 2017 costing $70.7 million per passenger per flight. Artemis continued to slip, with the first uncrewed test flight scheduled for 2022.

Development Program

The CCDev program was initiated to develop safe and reliable commercial ISS crew launch capabilities to replace the Soyuz flights. CCDev followed

Commercial Orbital Transportation Services Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) was a NASA program to coordinate the development of vehicles for the delivery of crew and cargo to the International Space Station by private companies. The program was announced on January 18, 20 ...

(COTS), an ISS commercial cargo program. CCDev contracts were issued for fixed-price, pay-for-performance milestones. CCDev was implemented in several phases. CCDev 1 contracts were for development of concepts and technologies. CCDev 2 contracts were for actual vehicle designs. CCiCap contracts were for designs of complete end-to-end crew transportation hardware and services. CPC phase 1 contracts were for the development of a full certification plan. Finally CCtCap contracts were awarded for actual demonstration of crewed transportation services, which included development, testing, and production of the required hardware followed by operatinal flights to the ISS.

CCDev 1

Commercial Crew Development (CCDev 1) consisted of $50 million awarded in 2010 to five US companies to develop human spaceflight concepts and technologies. NASA awarded development funds to five companies under CCDev 1: *

Blue Origin Blue Origin, LLC is an American privately funded aerospace manufacturer and sub-orbital spaceflight services company headquartered in Kent, Washington. Founded in 2000 by Jeff Bezos, the founder and executive chairman of Amazon, the company i ...

: $3.7M for a 'pusher'

Launch Abort System A launch escape system (LES) or launch abort system (LAS) is a crew-safety system connected to a space capsule that can be used to quickly separate the capsule from its launch vehicle in case of an emergency requiring the abort of the launch, suc ...

(LAS) and composite

pressure vessel A pressure vessel is a container designed to hold gases or liquids at a pressure substantially different from the ambient pressure. Construction methods and materials may be chosen to suit the pressure application, and will depend on the size o ...

s. *

: $18M for development of the

CST-100 Starliner The Boeing CST-100 Starliner
is a class of two partially Paragon Space Development Corporation: $1.4M for a plug-and-play

environmental control and life support system A life-support system is the combination of equipment that allows survival in an environment or situation that would not support that life in its absence. It is generally applied to systems supporting human life in situations where the outsid ...

(ECLSS) Air Revitalization System (ARS) Engineering Development Unit. *

Sierra Nevada Corporation Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) is an American, privately held aerospace and national security contractor specializing in aircraft modification and integration, space components and systems, and related technology products for cybersecurity and ...

: $20M for development of the Dream Chaser * United Launch Alliance: $6.7M for an Emergency Detection System (EDS) for human-rating

Atlas V Atlas V is an expendable launch system and the fifth major version in the Atlas launch vehicle family. It was originally designed by Lockheed Martin, now being operated by United Launch Alliance (ULA), a joint venture between Lockheed Martin ...

CCDev 2

On 18 April 2011, NASA awarded nearly $270 million to four companies for developing U.S. vehicles that could fly astronauts after the Space Shuttle fleet's retirement.Dean, James
"NASA awards $270 million for commercial crew efforts"
space.com, April 18, 2011. Funded proposals: *

: $22 million. Technologies in support of a biconic nose cone design orbital vehicle, including launch abort system

liquid oxygen Liquid oxygen—abbreviated LOx, LOX or Lox in the aerospace, submarine and gas industries—is the liquid form of molecular oxygen. It was used as the oxidizer in the first liquid-fueled rocket invented in 1926 by Robert H. Goddard, an applic ...

liquid hydrogen Liquid hydrogen (LH2 or LH2) is the liquid state of the element hydrogen. Hydrogen is found naturally in the molecular H2 form. To exist as a liquid, H2 must be cooled below its critical point of 33 K. However, for it to be in a fully liq ...

engines. *

: $80 million. Dream Chaser * SpaceX: $75 million.

integrated launch abort system *

: $92.3 million. Additional CST-100 Starliner developmentBoeing Submits Proposal for 2nd Round Of Commercial Crew Dev
. ''moonandback.com'' spaceflight news, December 14, 2010, accessed December 27, 2010. Proposals selected without NASA funding: * United Launch Alliance: extend development work on human-rating the

Alliant Techsystems Alliant Techsystems Inc. (ATK) was an American aerospace, defense, and sporting goods company with its headquarters in Arlington County, Virginia, in the United States. The company operated in 22 states, Puerto Rico, and other countries. ATK's ...

(ATK) and

Astrium Astrium was an aerospace manufacturer subsidiary of the EADS, European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS) that provided civil and military space systems and services from 2006 to 2013. In 2012, Astrium had a Revenue, turnover of €5.8 ...

proposed development of

Liberty Liberty is the ability to do as one pleases, or a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant (i.e. privilege). It is a synonym for the word freedom. In modern politics, liberty is understood as the state of being free within society fr ...

. NASA will share expertise and technology. *

Excalibur Almaz Excalibur Almaz was a private spaceflight company which planned to provide a variety of deep space crewed exploration missions, micro-gravity science, and payload delivery. EA also aimed to offer Low Earth Orbit cargo and crew delivery and retu ...

Inc. was developing a crewed system with modernized Soviet-era hardware intended for tourism flights to orbit. An unfunded Space Act Agreement to establish a framework to further develop EAI's spacecraft concept for low Earth orbit crew transportation. Proposals not selected: * Orbital Sciences proposed the Prometheus lifting-body spaceplane vehicle * Paragon Space Development Corporation proposed additional development of the Commercial Crew Transport-Air Revitalization System. *

t/Space t/Space (or Transformational Space Corporation) was an American aerospace company which participated in NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS), and later, Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) programs for delivering cargo and cr ...

proposed a reusable eight-person crew or cargo transfer spacecraft * United Space Alliance proposed to commercially fly the two remaining Space Shuttle vehicles.

CCiCap

Commercial Crew integrated Capability (CCiCap) was originally called CCDev 3. For this phase of the program, NASA wanted proposals to be complete, end-to-end concepts of operation, including spacecraft, launch vehicles, launch services, ground and mission operations, and recovery. In September 2011, NASA released a draft request for proposals (RFP). The final RFP was released on February 7, 2012, with proposals due on March 23, 2012. The funded Space Act Agreements were awarded on August 3, 2012, and amended on August 15, 2013. The selected proposals were announced 3 August 2012: * Sierra Nevada Corporation: $212.5 million. Dream Chaser/

* SpaceX: $440 million.

/ Falcon 9 * Boeing: $460 million. CST-100 Starliner/Atlas V

CPC phase 1

The first phase of the Certification Products Contract (CPC) involved the development of a certification plan with engineering standards, tests, and analyses. Winners of funding of phase 1 of the CPC, announced on December 10, 2012, were: * Sierra Nevada Corporation: $10 million * SpaceX: $9.6 million * Boeing: $9.9 million

CCtCap – crew flights awarded

The Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap) is the second phase of the CPC and included the final development, testing and verifications to allow crewed demonstration flights to the ISS. NASA issued the draft CCtCap contract's Request For Proposals (RFP) on 19 July 2013 with a response date of 15 August 2013. On 16 September 2014, NASA announced that Boeing and SpaceX had received contracts to provide crewed launch services to the ISS. Boeing could receive up to US$4.2 billion, while SpaceX could receive up to US$2.6 billion. In November 2019 NASA published a first cost per seat estimate: US$55 million for SpaceX's Dragon and US$90 million for Boeing's Starliner. Boeing was also granted an additional $287.2 million above the fixed price contract. Seats on Soyuz had an average cost of US$80 million. However, adjusting for the additional cargo carried by Boeing's Starliner inside its crew capsule, the adjusted cost per seat figure is approximately $70 million, which is still higher than SpaceX's Crew Dragon even if the Dragon does not carry the equivalent of a fifth passenger in cargo. Both the

CST-100 Starliner The Boeing CST-100 Starliner
is a class of two partially Crew Dragon Dragon 2 is a class of partially reusable spacecraft developed and manufactured by American aerospace manufacturer SpaceX, primarily for flights to the International Space Station (ISS). SpaceX has also launched private missions such as Insp ...

were to fly an uncrewed flight, then a crewed certification flight, then up to six operational flights to the ISS.

Timeline

Ongoing delays

The first flight of the Commercial Crew Program was planned to occur in 2015, but insufficient funding caused delays. As the spacecraft entered the testing and production phase, technical issues have also caused delays, especially the parachute system, propulsion, and the launch abort system of both capsules.

Starliner 2018 valve issue

In July 2018, a test anomaly was reported in which there was a

hypergolic propellant A hypergolic propellant is a rocket propellant combination used in a rocket engine, whose components spontaneously ignite when they come into contact with each other. The two propellant components usually consist of a fuel and an oxidizer. The ...

leak due to several faulty abort system valves. Consequentially, the first unpiloted orbital mission was delayed to April 2019, and the first crew launch rescheduled to August 2019. In March 2019, Reuters reported these test flights had been delayed by at least three months, and in April 2019 Boeing announced that the unpiloted orbital mission was scheduled for August 2019.

Crew Dragon explosion

On 20 April 2019, an issue arose during a static fire test of Crew Dragon. The accident destroyed the capsule which was planned to be used for the In-Flight Abort Test (IFAT). SpaceX confirmed that the capsule exploded. NASA stated that the explosion would delay the planned in-flight abort and crewed orbital tests.

Starliner Orbital Flight Test failure

During the first orbital flight test of Starliner in December 2019, the spacecraft reached orbit but was unable to dock with ISS due to a critical software error. Subsequent analysis revealed a second critical software error that could cause the service module to collide with the capsule after separation during the de-orbiting sequence.

Crew Dragon crewed flight

On May 30, 2020 two astronauts were launched to the ISS with a Crew Dragon as part of

Crew Dragon Demo-2 Crew Dragon Demo-2 (officially Crew Demo-2, SpaceX Demo-2, or Demonstration Mission-2) was the first crewed test flight of the Crew Dragon spacecraft. The spacecraft, named '' Endeavour'', launched on 30 May 2020 on a Falcon 9 booster, and car ...

. The end and safe landing of Demo-2 on August 2, 2020 marked the first splashdown in 45 years for NASA astronauts since the first

Apollo–Soyuz Apollo–Soyuz was the first crewed international space mission, carried out jointly by the United States and the Soviet Union in July 1975. Millions of people around the world watched on television as a United States Apollo spacecraft docked ...

U.S./U.S.S.R international space mission in July 1975, as well as the first splashdown of a crew spacecraft in the Gulf of Mexico.

Starliner 2021 valve issue

Shortly before the scheduled launch of the second orbital flight test in August 2021, routine pre-launch testing showed that thirteen valves in the propulsion system were inoperable and the launch was scrubbed. the problem required extensive analysis that was still ongoing in October 2021, and NASA and Boeing estimated that a new launch date would be scheduled in the first half of 2022.

Starliner Orbital Flight Test 2

Boeing Starliner Spacecraft 2 launched as part of the

Boeing Orbital Flight Test 2 The Boeing Orbital Flight Test-2 (also known as Boe OFT-2) was a repeat of Boeing's unsuccessful first Orbital Flight Test (OFT-1) of its Starliner spacecraft. The uncrewed mission was part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. OFT-2, using Sta ...

, on May 19, 2022. It successfully docked on May 21, where it stayed for four days. On May 25, the spacecraft undocked and landed successfully in the White Sands Missile Range.

Funding

The first flight of the Commercial Crew Program was planned to occur in 2015, but insufficient funding caused delays. For the fiscal year (FY) 2011 budget, US$500 million was requested for the CCDev program, but Congress granted only $270 million. For the FY 2012 budget, $850 million was requested and $406 million approved. For the FY 2013 budget, 830 million was requested and $488 million approved. For the FY 2014 budget, $821 million was requested and $696 million approved. In FY 2015, $848 million was requested and $805 million, or 95%, was approved. On November 14, 2019, NASA's inspector general published an auditing report listing per-seat prices of $90 million for Starliner and $55 million for Dragon Crew. With these, Boeing's price is higher than what NASA has paid the Russian space corporation, Roscosmos, for Soyuz spacecraft seats to fly US and partner-nation astronauts to the space station. The report also states that NASA agreed to pay an additional $287.2 million above Boeing's fixed prices to mitigate a perceived 18-month gap in ISS flights anticipated in 2019 and to ensure the contractor continued as a second commercial crew provider, without offering similar opportunities to SpaceX. On November 18, 2019, Boeing's Jim Chilton replied that the inspector general's report failed to list Starliner’s positive features and objected to the per seat pricing as they believe the cost is lower than $90 million given its cargo capacity. Boeing's reasoning for the extra funding was due to a later start to its development than SpaceX with comparable deadlines. Boeing also stated it committed to the program. The funding of all commercial crew contractors for each phase of the CCP program is as follows—CCtCap values are maxima and include six post-development operational flights for each vendor.

Test Missions

Each system is required to complete three specific uncrewed test flights and one crewed flight test before NASA will consider the system human-rated. Crew Dragon completed its crewed flight test in 2020 and began operational flights in November 2020. Starliner has not yet completed its crewed flight test.

Operational missions

References

External links

Official NASA Commercial Crew Program page

* ttp://www.nasa.gov/exploration/commercial/document_library.html Commercial Crew & Cargo Document Library on NASA.gov
CCDev 1 Space Act agreements

Partners Mature Spacecraft Designs
NASA video update, 14 January 2014.
Boeing CCtCap Contract (redacted)

SpaceX CCtCap Contract (redacted)
{{NASA navbox Human spaceflight programs Space Act Agreement companies NASA programs Private spaceflight International Space Station