posted 02-03-2011 10:41 AM               

If USA receives funding, the venture would conduct a study called the Commercial Shuttle Operations Architecture, which would last for six months, from April through September. The study would be aimed at fine-tuning USA's earlier cost estimates for a commercial shuttle operation with a workforce in Texas and Florida. Such an operation would be covered by Federal Aviation Administration rules, would share facilities with other commercial companies to cut down on expenses, and would offer launches to NASA under a fixed-price contract.

USA's current estimated price tag of $1.5 billion per year would represent a substantial drop from previous funding levels, which have seen shuttle program costs rise as high as $4 billion per year.

United Space Alliance says its plan would take advantage of shuttle infrastructure and a workforce already in place. Some shuttle production lines would have to be restarted -- for example, the operation that builds the shuttle's external fuel tanks. But USA says the first commercial shuttle flights could take place in 2013. That would beat the 2016 deadline specified in last year's legislation, as well as the development schedule laid out by SpaceX and USA's other commercial competitors.

posted 02-03-2011 11:20 AM            

I suppose USA could offer multiple shuttle seats to space tourists or launch commercial satellites like the shuttle used to in the 1980s before Challenger. Celebrities like James Cameron and John Travolta were rumoured to have wanted to fly on the shuttle in the late 1990s.

posted 02-03-2011 05:31 PM               

After they are finally retired then they can be displayed.

posted 02-03-2011 06:48 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by issman1:
I suppose USA could offer multiple shuttle seats to space tourists or launch commercial satellites like the shuttle used to in the 1980s before Challenger.

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posted 02-04-2011 09:12 AM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Robert Pearlman:
NASA was intending to retain the tooling

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posted 02-05-2011 08:04 AM               

"We thought this was a good option to be put on the table to be evaluated with all the other commercial options, since it's a vehicle that has really proven itself," said Mark Nappi, head of Houston-based USA's Florida operations. "It is safe. We have a lot of history, we understand how to operate it."

To avoid giving the company's employees false hope, however, Nappi has told them the proposal is "very much a long shot."

USA initially has proposed a six-month study of the commercial shuttle option, something Nappi noted has been studied a handful of times since the '90s.

The company asked NASA to help fund the study under a program set up to speed the development of new rockets and spacecraft able to carry people. Winners of the program's $200 million second round of funding are expected to be announced next month.

posted 02-05-2011 01:38 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by fredtrav:
We are talking about two, so the other two will be on display for the public.

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posted 02-05-2011 03:28 PM               

From the Columbia Accident Investigation Board report Volume I August 2003, part three Chapter 9:

The board makes the following recommendation regarding recertification;

R9.2-1

Prior to operating the Shuttle beyond 2010, develop and conduct a vehicle recertification at the material, component and subsystem, and systems levels. Recertification requirements should be included in the Service Life Extension program.

posted 02-05-2011 03:50 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by GACspaceguy:
If USA disregarded that recommendation they would put the shuttle right back into the mind set that allowed the Columbia accident to occur.

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Another issue for shuttle extension is recertification. In the wake of the 2003 Columbia disaster, the accident review board concluded that if NASA wanted to fly the shuttle past 2010, the vehicle should be recertified, a costly and complex procedure intended to make sure the aging spaceplanes can be safely maintained and operated.

While not required given the decision to retire the fleet this year, recertification-class reviews have been underway since 2005.

"We've pretty much, over the last five years, gone through the entire orbiter vehicle to make sure we're operating within the environment that the different orbiter pieces were originally certified for," Shannon said. "We feel like we've addressed recertification.

"We did not stop there. We continued and had meetings with aging vehicle experts to understand from an aviation standpoint what types of things do they typically find, what types of things do they typically look at, we benchmarked things like the B-52 bomber, things that have been flying for greater than 50 years. And as a result of those meetings, we added 23 additional inspection points into each of the orbiters that we hit every time we turn the vehicle around."

posted 03-03-2011 05:28 PM               

Preserving, adapting and using what we already have is smarter than destroying capability and starting again from scratch. We are putting faith in the emergence of space systems that will do what we want, when and where we want. We are told that to nurture and foster other providers of space access, we must throw away the bird in our hand and plant a revolutionary new bush, hopeful that it will grow and attract a variety of new birds. I leave it to you to decide the wisdom of such a restrictive course. Plant the bush but don’t throw away the only bird we now hold. We must be fully conscious about the realities of non-existent systems and preserve the space transportation capability on which America can rely.

posted 03-03-2011 05:35 PM               

Here is the symposium's description:

On Feb. 1, 2010, the Obama administration announced its plan to develop a new commercial manned spaceflight capability; NASA subsequently awarded $50 million in grants to five private firms as a first step to implement the vision of turning over space transportation to the commercial sector.

Virginia A. Barnes, president and CEO of United Space Alliance, and George Jeffs, a member of the Space Shuttle Management Independent Review Team, will lead a panel discussion on the viability of flying the Space Shuttle as a commercial venture.

The United States has made a significant investment in space shuttle facilities and personnel, but with the space shuttle program ending in 2011, the United States will be dependent on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft to fly crews to the International Space Station. The commercial operation of the space shuttle would be an alternative that would provide continuity to the nation’s human spaceflight program and make use of these existing assets.

posted 04-26-2011 04:11 PM               

Other companies were cut during the assessment for other reasons, from having major, glaring weaknesses to failing to follow the instructions in the announcement. Also getting cut at this stage was a proposal from USA, the Boeing-Lockheed Martin joint venture that handles shuttle operations, to study commercial operations of part of the shuttle fleet beyond the scheduled retirement of the orbiters later this year. Without discussing the specifics of the proposal, the NASA source selection document states that it "did not fall within the scope or intent of the CCDev 2 effort," and as a result USA withdrew its proposal last month.