A
"commercial spacecraft" refers to a privately-owned and operated spacecraft that is used for business purposes, like transporting goods or people to space. It is not owned or run by a government or a space agency.
Full definition
The BAA solicited proposals for studies in five key areas: asteroid capture systems, rendezvous sensors, adapting
commercial spacecraft for the Asteroid Redirect Vehicle, partnerships for secondary payloads, and potential partnerships to enhance U.S. exploration activities in cis - lunar space in conjunction with the crewed mission.
The Federal Aviation Administration licenses rocket launches and re-entry
of commercial spacecraft from orbit in order to ensure the safety of people on the ground.
NASA says they could be assigned to a variety of missions, including performing research on the International Space Station, launching
commercial spacecraft from American soil, and departing on deep space missions.
Alien initially presents a mundane
commercial spacecraft with crew members like Yaphet Kotto bitching and moaning about wages and working conditions.
He estimated, however, that Lynx flights would cost perhaps half as much as those of
competing commercial spacecraft, because the Lynx takes off and lands like a normal plane, so no additional infrastructure must be built to accommodate these flights.
The Senate bill, by contrast, provides $ 1.6 billion over 3 years to help industry
build commercial spacecraft that would help ferry astronauts into space.
NASA is accepting proposals for innovations in asteroid - capture systems, rendezvous sensors and
commercial spacecraft modifications, as well as studies for future commercial partnerships.
The two astronauts were working on readying the ISS to
receive commercial spacecraft, and their work was generally a success despite some equipment being lost in space.
NASA's ambitious initiative to fly astronauts on
commercial spacecraft continues to suffer from schedule delays, as well as questions regarding the program's safety — and Congress isn't happy about it.
In 2004, the aircraft and rocket maker Scaled Composites of Mojave, California, won the Ansari X prize for SpaceShipOne, the
first commercial spacecraft to reach suborbital space.
Space Systems / Loral in Palo Alto, California: The «
Adapting Commercial Spacecraft for the Asteroid Redirect Vehicle» study will define system concepts that leverage an existing high - power commercial satellite bus to reduce costs.
On the 25th anniversary of the Challenger disaster, there are good reasons to think that the coming generations
of commercial spacecraft will be safer
It will be awarded to the first team that lands
a commercial spacecraft on the moon, travels 500 meters across its surface and sends high - definition images and video back to Earth — all before the end of 2015.
The Boeing Company in Huntington Beach, California: The «Adapting
Commercial Spacecraft for the Asteroid Redirect Vehicle» study will define and analyze variants of an existing commercial spacecraft with NASA - furnished solar arrays and Hall thrusters.
Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company in Denver -: The «Adapting
Commercial Spacecraft for the Asteroid Redirect Vehicle» study will define system concepts for a Solar Electric Propulsion Module based on an existing commercial spacecraft bus and NASA Hall thrusters.
Perhaps space tourism and brief joyrides will be the lesser part of the industry; in the longer term,
commercial spacecraft may help us discover minerals or other resources with now - unimaginable properties, or to found colonies that will serve, in the vision of Stephen Hawking, as the ultimate insurance policy for our species.
The achievement is the first time
a commercial spacecraft has ever docked at the weightless laboratory
BLASTING off to the edge of space in SpaceShipTwo, Virgin Galactic's
commercial spacecraft, may be one step closer after the successful testing last week of a new solid - liquid hybrid rocket motor.
The Dragon capsule, built by dot - com magnate Elon Musk's company SpaceX, is the first
commercial spacecraft to visit the International Space Station.
Virgin Galactic unveiled SpaceShipTwo,
a commercial spacecraft intended for passenger flights, this past December.
Dragon is the first
commercial spacecraft to deliver cargo to the International Space Station and currently the only cargo spacecraft flying capable of returning significant amounts of cargo to Earth.
NASA Mission Control, announcing that the first
commercial spacecraft to reach the International Space Station has returned to Earth safely.
Bill Nye sees common ground between a new rule for humans on
commercial spacecraft and good news about radiation levels on Mars.
Dragon made history in 2012 when it became the first
commercial spacecraft to deliver cargo to the space station, a feat previously achieved only by governments.
But can
a commercial spacecraft take off on its own from the ground, travel into outer space and land again on a runway?
Along with Whitson's record, another positive came in the form of a «get - ahead» task, in which the astronauts took some photos that will help NASA to assess what further work might be needed to facilitate the docking of
commercial spacecraft.
Mr. Branson spoke excitedly about the planned December rollout of
his commercial spacecraft and plans for his family, including his parents, to be the first to take a suborbital ride.