The two companies want to offer commercial delivery services for cargo, and possibly crews, to the International Space Station in the future. In August 2006, NASA and the companies signed Space Act Agreements that established a series of milestones and criteria for assessing progress toward their individual goals.

"These milestones demonstrate genuine progress toward a new way of doing business for NASA and pave the way for the commercial purchase of transportation services needed to maintain the International Space Station," said Alan Lindenmoyer, manager of the Commercial Crew and Cargo Program Office at NASA's Johnson Space Center, Houston. "If these companies can continue this rapid pace, the first demonstration launches are right around the corner."

On Feb. 8 SpaceX, of El Segundo, Calif., received NASA approval of a preliminary design review for the first orbital demonstration of its Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon reusable spacecraft. That flight, planned for September 2008, will be the first of three outlined in NASA's agreement with SpaceX. The company completed a project management review for the mission in September 2006 and a system requirements review in November 2006. SpaceX delivered its preliminary design review data to NASA Jan. 22. The critical design review is set for this summer.

On Feb. 6, Rocketplane Kistler of Oklahoma City established the requirements for interfaces between its two-stage K-1 reusable cargo transportation system and the International Space Station. The requirements review was the third of numerous milestones NASA will use to measure the company's progress toward a full demonstration of its launch capability. Both the first and second stages completed critical design reviews before Rocketplane Kistler joined the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services Project. Those vehicle components are being transported to NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans to begin the assembly phase.

Rocketplane Kistler achieved its first two program milestones, completion of a program implementation plan and an initial round of private financing, in September and November 2006, respectively. Preliminary and critical design reviews of a new cargo module are planned later this year.

SpaceX and Rocketplane Kistler both won a 2006 competition to share up to $485 million in NASA funding to help finance their activities. Earlier in February, NASA signed unfunded agreements to work with two other companies with similar goals - Transformational Space Corp. (t/Space) of Reston, Va., and PlanetSpace Inc. of Chicago.

The overarching goals of NASA's Commercial Crew and Cargo Program are to stimulate commercial enterprises in space; facilitate U.S. private industry development of reliable, cost-effective access to low-Earth orbit; and create a market environment in which commercial space transportation services are available to government and private customers.

Once industry has demonstrated safe and reliable capabilities, NASA may choose to purchase transportation services from commercial providers to support the International Space Station under a second phase of the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services Project.

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