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Orbital has thrown its hat into the LEO taxi ring.....
http://www.spacenews.com/civil/orbital- ... psule.html
http://www.spacenews.com/civil/orbital- ... psule.html
Orbital Plans to Develop Cygnus-Based Crew Capsule
By Amy Klamper
Dulles, Va.-based Orbital Sciences Corp. is throwing its hat into NASA’s commercial-crew transport ring with plans to develop a crew capsule based on the company’s Cygnus cargo module, according to industry sources.
Cygnus and its Taurus 2 medium-class launcher are currently in development with help from $171 million in NASA funding won in February 2008 under the agency’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) demonstration program. NASA in December awarded Orbital a $1.9 billion contract for resupply missions to the international space station.
“We’re definitely supportive of the idea of commercial crew,” Orbital spokesman Barry Beneski said Sept. 11. “We were initially focused on cargo, but now that the Augustine recommendations are out, there seems to be a more serious look at how the private sector can contribute, and that’s what Orbital has done for basically our whole history.”
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