The Automated Transfer Vehicle,originally Ariane Transfer Vehicle or ATV,was an expendable cargo spacecraft developed by the European Space Agency (ESA),used for space cargo transport in 2008–2015. The ATV design was launched to orbit five times,exclusively by the Ariane 5 heavy-lift launch vehicle. It effectively was a larger European counterpart to the Russian Progress cargo spacecraft for carrying upmass to a single destination—the International Space Station (ISS)—but with three times the capacity.
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 revenue in the 2014 fiscal year was about US$4.78 billion.
The Constellation program was a crewed spaceflight program developed by NASA,the space agency of the United States,from 2005 to 2009. The major goals of the program were "completion of the International Space Station" and a "return to the Moon no later than 2020" with a crewed flight to the planet Mars as the ultimate goal. The program's logo reflected the three stages of the program:the Earth (ISS),the Moon,and finally Mars—while the Mars goal also found expression in the name given to the program's booster rockets:Ares. The technological aims of the program included the regaining of significant astronaut experience beyond low Earth orbit and the development of technologies necessary to enable sustained human presence on other planetary bodies.
Orbital Sciences Corporation was an American company specializing in the design,manufacture and launch of small- and medium- class space and launch vehicle systems for commercial,military and other government customers. In 2014,Orbital merged with Alliant Techsystems to create a new company called Orbital ATK,Inc.,which in turn was purchased by Northrop Grumman in 2018. The remnants of the former Orbital Sciences Corporation today are a subsidiary of Northrop Grumman known as Northrop Grumman Space Systems.
Dream Chaser is an American reusable lifting-body spaceplane being developed by Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) Space Systems. Originally intended as a crewed vehicle,the Dream Chaser Space System is set to be produced after the cargo variant,Dream Chaser Cargo System,is operational. The crewed variant is planned to carry up to seven people and cargo to and from low Earth orbit.
Shuttle-derived vehicle (SDV) is a term describing one of an array of concepts that have been developed for building space launch vehicles and spacecraft using the already developed components,technology,and infrastructure of the Space Shuttle program.
The Exploration Systems Architecture Study (ESAS) is the official title of a large-scale,system level study released by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in November 2005 of his goal of returning astronauts to the Moon and eventually Mars —known as the Vision for Space Exploration. The Constellation Program was cancelled in 2010 by the Obama Administration and replaced with the Space Launch System,later renamed as the Artemis Program in 2017 under the Trump Administration.
PlanetSpace was a privately funded Chicago-based rocket and space travel project founded by Geoff Sheerin,CEO of the Canadian Arrow corporation. The owner is Dr. Chirinjeev Kathuria.
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 18,2006 and successfully flew all cargo demonstration flights by September 2013,when the program ended.
Crew Space Transportation System (CSTS),or Advanced Crew Transportation System (ACTS),was a proposed design for a crewed spacecraft for low Earth orbit operations such as servicing the International Space Station,but also capable of exploration of the Moon and beyond. It was originally a joint project between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Roscosmos,but later became solely an ESA project. This study was conceived as a basic strategic plan to keep a viable European human spaceflight program alive.
The Ares V was the planned cargo launch component of the cancelled NASA Constellation program,which was to have replaced the Space Shuttle after its retirement in 2011. Ares V was also planned to carry supplies for a human presence on Mars. Ares V and the smaller Ares I were named after Ares,the Greek god of war.
Ares I was the crew launch vehicle that was being developed by NASA as part of the Constellation program. The name "Ares" refers to the Greek deity Ares,who is identified with the Roman god Mars. Ares I was originally known as the "Crew Launch Vehicle" (CLV).
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 return.
Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) are a series of flights awarded by NASA for the delivery of cargo and supplies to the International Space Station (ISS) on commercially operated spacecraft. The first CRS contracts were signed in 2008 and awarded $1.6 billion to SpaceX for twelve cargo Dragon and $1.9 billion to Orbital Sciences for eight Cygnus flights,covering deliveries to 2016. The Falcon 9 and Antares rockets were also developed under the CRS program to deliver cargo spacecraft to the ISS.
DIRECT was a late-2000s proposed alternative super heavy lift launch vehicle architecture supporting NASA's Vision for Space Exploration that would replace the space agency's planned Ares I and Ares V rockets with a family of Shuttle-Derived Launch Vehicles named "Jupiter". It was intended to be the alternative to the Ares I and Ares V rockets which were under development for the Constellation program,intended to develop the Orion spacecraft for use in Earth orbit,the Moon,and Mars.
The Boeing CST-100Starliner is a class of two partially reusable spacecraft designed to transport crew to the International Space Station (ISS) and other low-Earth-orbit destinations. It is manufactured by Boeing for its participation in NASA's Commercial Crew Program (CCP). The spacecraft consists of a reusable crew capsule and an expendable service module.
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 to a competitive development program that would produce the spacecraft to be used in the Commercial Crew Program 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. Each company performed an uncrewed orbital test flight in 2019,and operational flights started in November 2020.
The retirement of NASA's Space Shuttle fleet took place from March to July 2011. Discovery was the first of the three active Space Shuttles to be retired,completing its final mission on March 9,2011;Endeavour did so on June 1. The final shuttle mission was completed with the landing of Atlantis on July 21,2011,closing the 30-year Space Shuttle program.
OmegA was a medium to heavy-lift launch vehicle concept that spent several years in development by Northrop Grumman during 2016–2020,with that development substantially funded by the U.S. government. OmegA was intended for launching U.S. national security satellites,as part of the U.S. Department of the Air Force National Security Space Launch (NSSL) replacement program.
During the lifetime of Space Shuttle,Rockwell International and many other organizations studied various Space Shuttle designs. These studies included different ways to increase shuttle payload capability,crew capacity,and developing standalone reusable launch vehicles. A large focus of the program was towards new shuttle boosters and an upgrades to the external tank but also looked to expand NASA's ability to launch deep space missions and build large modular space stations. Many of these concepts and studies would shape the concepts and programs of the 2000s such as Constellation,Orbital Space Plane Program,and Artemis program.
