CCDev - NASA Commercial Crew Development

[Salo]

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1202/07commercialcrew/

NASA poised to make further commercial crew investment[/size]
BY STEPHEN CLARK
SPACEFLIGHT NOW
Posted: February 7, 2012

NASA officials said Tuesday they intend to award multiple companies up to $500 million each over the next two years to maintain private sector competition in the agency's commercial crew program and keep the effort on schedule to enable the resumption of U.S. human spaceflight by 2017.

The agency released an announcement for proposals to industry Tuesday, starting the third phase of the commercial crew program, which aims to invest in the development of spacecraft and launch vehicles capable of hauling astronaut crews to the International Space Station.

The commercial crew program is the key to ending NASA's reliance on Russian Soyuz spacecraft for human transportation to and from the space station since the retirement of the space shuttle. NASA officials expect commercial crew service to begin no later than 2017, based on current budget projections.

Ed Mango, manager of NASA's commercial crew program, said the space agency plans to award Space Act Agreements, or SAAs, to multiple contractors by August. The agreements will each be worth between $300 million and $500 million, and NASA will make payments as the companies accomplish predetermined milestones.

Brent Jett, NASA's deputy commercial crew program manager, said he is confident the agency will be able to award at least two companies agreements of that value.

Proposals are due March 23, according to the solicitation.

"What our overall approach is during this SAA is we are an investor, a technical investor and an investor bringing money to the table in order to get American industry to get to a crew demonstration capability," Mango said Tuesday at a forum with members of industry at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The Commercial Crew integrated Capability, or CCiCap, phase of the program will mature the designs of combined space transportation systems, which include a spacecraft to carry at least four astronauts and a launch vehicle to safely dispatch the crews from Earth.

The objectives of the CCiCap agreements are to complete the design of the commercial spaceships and ready the vehicles for construction and certification.

"We need an integrated design," Mango said. "I can't emphasize that enough."

NASA planned to issue a commercial crew solicitation in December for fixed-price contracts, but the agency's fiscal year 2012 budget provided for $406 million for the commercial crew program, less than half the funding level requested by the White House.

The smaller budget, coupled with uncertain funding in future years, compelled NASA officials to revert to Space Act Agreements, which have been used in the first two phases of the commercial crew program.

NASA now has funded Space Act Agreements with Boeing Co., SpaceX, Sierra Nevada Corp. and Blue Origin worth a combined $316 million. Each company is working on a commercial crew spacecraft, and the agreements run through May.

"I can tell you that since November, the program has had to pivot because of a number of different things," Mango said. "The biggest is uncertainty in the future of our budget."

Fixed-price contracts require a more stable, higher budget. Space Act Agreements require NASA's commercial partners to inject private capital in their development efforts.

The Space Act Agreements will run at least 21 months from August 2012 until May 2014, roughly the same period the contracts would have covered.

"The overall net plan that we have in place will still mitigate the risks needed to understand certification in order to go fly crew safely," Mango said.

In the coming competition, the commercial partners will also be expected to demonstrate processes to analyze, quantify and understand safety risks, institute procedures and testing to reduce the risks, and propose criteria and plans to certify their spacecraft and rockets for human spaceflight.

NASA is requesting companies provide lists of optional milestones extending beyond May 2014, both at a fixed funding profile of $400 million per year and an optimum, more costly, profile with an accelerated schedule to begin commercial crew service by the middle of the decade.

"We think the most we might be able to give [the commercial partners] is about $400 million a year [each]," Mango said.

The optional milestones must outline continued development through a crewed orbital test flight, the final step before a transportation system is declared ready for round-trip service to the space station.[/size]

[Salo]

http://ria.ru/science/20120208/560183191.html

НАСА объявило третий раунд отборов разработчиков частных кораблей[/size]

10:50 08/02/2012

МОСКВА, 8 фев - РИА Новости. НАСА открыло третью фазу конкурсного отбора коммерческих компаний, разрабатывающих пилотируемые космические корабли для доставки астронавтов на МКС - в рамках отбора предполагается выделить несколько грантов в размере от 300 до 500 миллионов долларов, говорится в сообщении космического агентства.

В рамках новой программы Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCIC) разработчики кораблей для доставки астронавтов на околоземную орбиту и, в частности, для полетов на МКС должны будут представить план действий на 21 месяц - от момента выделения гранта до мая 2014 года. За это время нужно представить полностью готовые к работе пилотируемый корабль, ракету-носитель, а также пусковой комплекс и систему управления полетом на земле. Кроме того, НАСА хочет видеть и приблизительный план дальнейших действий, кульминацией которого станет демонстрационный пилотируемый полет на околоземную орбиту.

Прием заявок от компаний завершится 23 марта, ожидается, что победители отбора будут объявлены летом 2012 года.

Частные пилотируемые космические корабли уже разрабатываются победителями первых двух фаз отбора в рамках программы Commercial Crew Development, стартовавшей в 2010 году. За это время компании-разработчики получили в общей сложности более 300 миллионов долларов. Победителями второго раунда отборов стали компании Blue Origin, Sierra Nevada Corporation, SpaceX и Boeing.

НАСА также с 2006 года осуществляет программу Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS), в рамках которой поощряются усилия частных фирм по созданию космических кораблей, способных доставлять грузы на околоземную орбиту и на МКС. В рамках этой программы компания SpaceX получит 396 миллионов долларов, а Orbital Sciences Corporation - 288 миллионов долларов за успешное завершение всех этапов создания космической транспортной системы. К настоящему моменту SpaceX выделено уже около 376 миллионов долларов, а Orbital - 261,5 миллиона.

Как сообщалось ранее, запуск новой экспедиции на МКС, намеченный на 30 марта, перенесен на 15 мая из-за проблем, возникших при испытаниях спускового аппарата российского пилотируемого корабля "Союз ТМА-04М", на котором должна была полететь новая экспедиция.

Руководитель программы МКС в НАСА Майкл Саффредини заявил журналистам, что НАСА не видит в проблемах с "Союзом" и аварии "Прогресса" в 2011 году серьезной системной проблемы и считает, что российские коллеги относятся к возникшим вопросам достаточно серьезно.[/size]

[Salo]

http://www.itar-tass.com/c19/337119.html

09:16 08/02/2012
НАСА выделяет дополнительно 1 млрд долларов на разработку коммерческого корабля для доставки астронавтов к МКС[/size]

НЬЮ-ЙОРК, 8 февраля. (АРМС-ТАСС). Национальное управление США по аэронавтике и исследованию космического пространства (НАСА) намерено выбрать, как минимум, две частные компании, которые разработают и проведут тестовые испытания космических кораблей, способных доставлять астронавтов к Международной космической станции (МКС) и обратно. Об этом объявил руководитель программы коммерческих полетов НАСА Эд Манго, передает ИТАР-ТАСС.

По его словам, космическое ведомство выделит каждой из выбранных фирм от 300 до 500 млн долларов. Победители конкурса должны будут к маю 2014 года представить проект корабля, а уже к 2015 году быть готовыми провести тестовые полеты. Необходимый НАСА корабль должен вмещать не менее четырех астронавтов, достигать околоземной орбиты высотой не менее 370 км и находиться на ней не менее трех дней.

Ранее США доставляли своих астронавтов на МКС с помощью многоразовых транспортных космических кораблей (МТКК) "Спейс шаттл". Однако осенью прошлого года администрация Барака Обамы отправила в музеи три оставшиеся в распоряжении НАСА МТКК, чтобы высвободить средства для осуществления других проектов - полета на астероид к 2025 году и на Марс - в 2030-е годы. Согласно одобренной Обамой концепции, доставлять экипажи и грузы на МКС предстоит коммерческим кораблям и ракетам-носителям.

С 2010 года НАСА потратило на эти цели 365,5 млн дол. Корпорация "Боинг", получившая 130,9 млн дол, создает капсулу, которую планируется отправлять в космос на ракете "Атлас-5". Компания "Сьерра Невада", получившая от НАСА 125,6 млн дол, на этой же ракете намеревается запустить в космос корабль "Дрим чейсер". Компания "Спейс-Экс" за 75 млн дол планирует доработать свой грузовой корабль "Дрэгон", выводящийся на орбиту ракетой "Фэлкон-9", до пилотируемого варианта.

Пока же НАСА целиком зависит от российских партнеров. Полеты на "Союзах" обходятся американцам в настоящее время в 56 млн дол за место, а с 2014 года будут стоить 63 млн дол.[/size]

[Потусторонний]

http://www.spacenews.com/civil/120207-bids-due-march-commercial-crew.html

Winners will develop an integrated system featuring a crew vehicle and launch vehicle, with work to be completed May 31, 2014.

Цена пассажироместа в Союзе озвучена так

Currently NASA is reliant on Russian Soyuz vehicles to deliver crews to the station, at a cost of $63 million per seat.

[Liss]

Очень наглядное сравнение корректного и адекватного перевода от РИА "Новости" с кривым пересказом от АРМС-ТАСС.

[Salo]

http://www.parabolicarc.com/2012/02/07/nasa-details-commercial-crew-strategy/

[Димитър]

http://www.itar-tass.com/c19/337119.html
- Необходимый НАСА корабль должен вмещать не менее четырех астронавтов,

Так все делали КК на 7 человек!
Зря старались?

[Salo]

Не менее четырёх включает семь как подмножество.

[Александр Ч.]

Никак не мог понять, что мне не нравится... а потом сообразил Я же читал раньше не мурзилки, а blogs.nasa.gov/cm/blog/bolden/posts/post_1328653216714.html

Administrator



One More Step on the Commercial Path to Low Earth Orbit Posted on Feb 07, 2012 05:26:20 PM | Administrator Charles Bolden | 0 Comments    |   

The past couple of years have seen NASA and its industry partners make tremendous progress on the commercial capability for delivering cargo and transporting crew to low Earth orbit (LEO). It's a path that will stop the out-sourcing of our missions to the space station and bring that work back home here to America by relying on U.S. companies to get the job done.


Our initial investments with the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program had two participants -- SpaceX and Orbital Sciences -- and our investments are paying off. From SpaceX's launch, orbit, and successful recovery of a Dragon capsule in December 2010 to this year's planned berthing of capsules at the International Space Station (ISS) by both SpaceX and Orbital, the milestones have been nothing short of historic.


Our commercial approach to space transportation has grown and now features partnerships with a diverse array of companies, both large and small, each with their own expertise and innovations. With the first two Commercial Crew Development rounds of awards, we've moved forward with partners who are working on different kinds of space transportation systems technologies -- all with the aim of providing future robust crew transportation capabilities for our nation to reach low Earth orbit. We look forward to more outcomes from these partners and others in the future.


Now, we've launched our call for the next phase of our ambitious program to develop an integrated system for transporting crew to LEO and potentially astronauts to the ISS. Earlier today, we released an announcement for proposals that asks U.S. companies to bring us their best plans to achieve a crewed orbital flight demonstration by the middle of the decade. The resulting space act agreement awards will range from $300 - $500 million, and we anticipate multiple awards.


President Obama is working hard to create an American economy built to last, and NASA's support of commercial innovation to reach low Earth orbit is helping to support these efforts by spurring new technological development and creating jobs and economic benefits for years to come.


Since the dawn of human space flight, private industry has been a critical partner in building the rockets and spacecraft that have helped NASA reach higher. But no longer can NASA afford to own and operate these expensive systems for travel to low Earth orbit. By handing this work off to U.S. industry, we are freed up to focus on the more difficult destinations including new missions of the future to asteroids and Mars. Also, we keep the work of transporting our astronauts to the ISS here in the United States and stop the outsourcing of this work to foreign providers.


The base period of the funded space act agreements of this next phase of our commercial space program are planned to start in August of this year and run to May 2014. Along with our ongoing work on a heavy lift rocket and Orion crew capsule to reach deep space, a recently graduated class of astronauts and a future class that has just submitted their preliminary applications, America's human space flight aspirations - and the hardware to make them reality -- are going strong.

For more information on the announcement and a pre-proposal conference Feb. 14, visit:


http://commercialcrew.nasa.gov/index.cfm

[Salo]

NASA PIT Crews Assist Commercial Spacecraft Developers[/size]

[ronatu]

...Sierra Nevada's Dream Chaser flight test vehicle is in Louisville, Colo., where it will be assembled and integrated with secondary systems for future milestones.
Image credit: Sierra Nevada....
...This is one of 12 milestones to be completed under SNC's funded Space Act Agreement (SAA) with NASA's Commercial Crew Program (CCP).
.....

http://www.space-travel.com/reports/Sierra_Nevada_Delivers_Flight_Test_Vehicle_Structure_999.html

[ronatu]

SpaceDev Sierra Nevada Corporation of Louisville, Colo получила $US 20 миллионов (из $US 50 миллионов) на поддержку разработки орбитального многоразового КК Dream Chaser:





РН Atlas V 431 configuration.

[Потусторонний]

с 2007г он заметно похорошел

[Salo]

И судя по-всему полегчал.

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1202/14commcrew/

NASA hopeful lawmakers will back commercial space plan[/size]
BY WILLIAM HARWOOD
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS "SPACE PLACE" & USED WITH PERMISSION
Posted: February 14, 2012

The Obama administration has asked Congress for $830 million in fiscal 2013 to fund on-going development of new commercial manned spacecraft to ferry astronauts to and from the International Space Station. But NASA only got half of what it asked for in 2012, a cut that effectively pushed the first operational launch back one year to 2017, and program officials said Tuesday any similar cuts in 2013 and beyond could push the program to the brink of irrelevance.
    

This artist's conception shows the Dream Chaser commercial crew spacecraft integrated with an Atlas 5 rocket. Credit: Sierra Nevada Corp.

 That's because the space station is the primary destination for private-sector spacecraft and the government currently is committed to operating the lab complex only through 2020. While NASA and its partners hope to keep the station going beyond that, funding is not assured.

If Congress significantly reduces funding for the commercial crew initiative again, if NASA only ends up with $300 million to $400 million per year for the next five years instead of the $800 million or so per year that's currently envisioned, "I would say it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to do this program," said Phil McAlister, director of commercial spaceflight development at NASA headquarters.

"We couldn't get there," he told reporters at an industry conference in Cocoa Beach. "Just one test fight is going to be a couple of hundred million dollars, probably. So that's your whole year's funding, right? So it doesn't really make sense at that kind of funding level. If we felt like that's all we could get, we would definitely re-evaluate the program."

But he said he was hopeful it won't come to that.

"We're definitely seeing progress," he said. "We believe the 830 is achievable, the president's budget request sort of balanced all the things NASA's trying to do. We've got several months ahead of us to communicate with Congress the importance of that."

McAlister and other senior NASA managers met with their industry counterparts Tuesday in Cocoa Beach for a briefing on the requirements of the next round of contracts in the commercial crew initiative. Proposals are due by March 23 and two or more contracts are expected to be awarded by the end of summer.

Unlike two previous rounds, which focused on spacecraft, launcher or subsystem development, the goal this time is for industry to present proposals covering the spacecraft, rocket booster and ground systems.

"This time, we're looking for an integrated solution," said Ed Mango, the commercial crew program manager at the Kennedy Space Center. "We don't want a proposal that says I have a great spacecraft, NASA you figure out the launch vehicle. That's not acceptable. This time, we want a launch vehicle, spacecraft, a mission operations system that they plan to use and a ground operations system. All those combined say we now have a solution that the government would be very interested in purchasing in the future for service."


This poster illustrates the partners in the commercial crew effort: Blue Origin, Boeing, Sierra Nevada, SpaceX, ATK, Excalibur and ULA. Credit: NASA

 NASA hopes to award two or more Commercial Crew Integrated Capability Initiative contracts with values ranging from $300 million to $500 million each. The contracts will run for 21 months, through May 2014. NASA has asked competitors to include optional milestones beyond the initial contract period that could pave the way for a manned test flight.

"If we get the funding that's in the president's budget, likely by 2017 we'll be able to have an operational crew transportation system," McAlister said. "If we have less money than that, obviously it'll slip that date out a little bit further. So we hope to get it's soon as possible.

"We have a commitment to the ISS for lifetime to 2020, so that limits (a company's) return on investment. I think at NASA, we're hopeful the ISS lifetime will be extended, but we don't have the commitment from the government for that, so we've sort of got to work with what we've got. And so, we don't want to slip that out too far because then the business case becomes a little bit more difficult."

NASA's struggle to fund the commercial crew initiative is difficult for many in the agency to understand, especially given that delays due to budget shortfalls increase the number of seats aboard Soyuz spacecraft that NASA must purchase from the Russians to carry U.S. and partner astronauts to and from the space station.
    

Credit: NASA

The six seats that will be used this year cost NASA $51 million each. Six more will be needed in 2013, at a price of $55.9 million each, and 12 more will be used in 2014 and 2015. Those seats will go for $62.7 million each. That works out to $1.4 billion to Russia for Soyuz seats between now and the end of 2015. NASA plans to negotiate contracts for the additional seats that will be needed in 2016 and beyond as required, depending on when a commercial U.S. spacecraft is ready for operational use.

Asked if he was frustrated by the budget process and NASA's extended dependence on the Russians for access to the space station, McAlister said "I think it was surprising to a lot of us that we would allow our indigenous human spaceflight capability to lapse."

"I've always thought we would have follow-on system when we retired the shuttle," he said. "It's a very complicated process and there's no one reason for why we didn't, but here we are today, we don't have a follow-on system.

"So right now, I'm just focused on ensuring that gap is going to be a short as possible. ... We have to communicate the importance of that to the U.S. Congress. There are lots of worthy programs, not only in NASA but within the federal government. So there's a lot of competition for those resources and so we need to communicate why we think this activity is important."[/size]

[ronatu]

[ronatu]

А таким он виделся в 1990....

[Salo]

http://www.parabolicarc.com/2012/02/17/commercial-space-partners-complete-8-more-milestones/

[instml]

Guest Blog: Jason Davis: NASA collects round three of CCDev proposals

If you're familiar with NASA's Commercial Crew program, you've probably heard of COTS and CCDev. Get ready to welcome a new acronym to the private spaceflight party: CCiCap. However, pretty much the only thing that's new about the Commercial Crew Integrated Capability initiative is its name; you can just think of it as CCDev phase three.

In case you're lost, here's a refresher. COTS (Commercial Orbital Transportation Services) is NASA's commercial program for companies looking for send non-crewed cargo spacecraft to the International Space station. For example, Orbital Sciences' Antares Rocket and Cygnus supply spacecraft are COTS participants.

On the human side, CCDev (Commercial Crew Development) aims to put an end to the $55.8 million per-seat checks NASA writes to the Russian space agency Roscosmos when American astronauts ride Soyuz capsules to the International Space Station. Two rounds of CCDev funds have already been allocated. Current CCDev partners include SpaceX, Boeing, Sierra Nevada and Blue Origin.

Of the round two funding winners, only SpaceX has its own rocket system. They are perennially two months away from an historic Space Station docking test. Boeing continues to prepare its CST-100 capsule for launch atop a human-rated United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. Sierra Nevada's Dream Chaser mini-shuttle and Blue Origin's Crew Transportation System capsule also seem keen on using an Atlas V to boost their vehicles into space.

So what can we expect to see in CCiCap, also known as CCDev round three? Previously, CCDev funding was given to support small pieces of more grandiose projects, such as SpaceX's launch abort system and Blue Origin's life support design. The "i" in CCiCap stands for "integrated," and will change the approach: NASA officially seeks end-to-end, full-blown proposals for reliably shipping humans and cargo to the Space Station and bringing them home to Earth safely. Solutions must include all the trappings you'd expect from a Soyuz or space shuttle launch, including ground support facilities, launch pads, rockets, capsules and docking systems.

With industry proposals due March 23, it will be interesting to see who wins the funding. Since the competing companies are required to have feasible plans for non-crewed flights, launch abort demonstrations and drop tests as early as 2014 -- with crewed flights soon after -- the selections will shed some light on which of the four current front-runners are serious contenders.

There's a lot of money on the line. NASA's 2013 budget calls for $829.7 million to be allocated to commercial crew development, with the same amount requested in 2014. The space agency's official press release says award payouts will range from $300 to $500 million. Even considering that the program will cover more than one year, it is conceivable not every current partner will make the cut. The remaining winners will then, as commercial crew program manager Brent Jett put it, "do the heavy lifting."

Presumably, no pun was intended; currently, a Russian Progress resupply vessel can lift more than two tons of supplies to the International Space Station.

http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00003393/

[Александр Ч.]

NASA Congrats to CCDEV2 partner SNC for completing their Engineering Test Article main landing gear drop test milestone for their Dream Chaser.
около 2 часов назад

[instml]

Decisive budget fight ahead for commercial crew program

WASHINGTON -- After NASA chief Charles Bolden fielded blistering questions from Congress last week on the agency's commercial crew initiative, officials said NASA must emphasize the program's urgency and quell expectations ahead of upcoming budget negotiations, during which a crucial SpaceX commercial cargo test flight will attempt to reach the International Space Station, a symbolic mission for the burgeoning private human spaceflight industry.



File photo of Phil McAlister, director of NASA's commercial spaceflight program. Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls
 
"I had to turn off the hearings," said Phil McAlister, head of NASA's commercial spaceflight effort. "If I heard another senator say, 'commercial crew sucks' ... I had to turn it off because it was just too much. That's because of this change we're trying to implement, which a lot of people are not comfortable with."

Speaking to House and Senate committees March 7, Bolden staunchly defended the commercial crew program amid accusations NASA was shortchanging the agency's deep space exploration goals to pay for private space taxis to ferry astronauts to the International Space Station. Commercial crew services would end U.S. reliance on Russian spacecraft following the end of the space shuttle program.

Commercial crew flights are due to begin by 2017.

"We have to redouble our communications with our congressional stakeholders," McAlister said, adding that while he is buoyed by growing support for the commercial crew program, there is still disagreement between NASA and some members of Congress on its prioritization in the agency's broad portfolio.

Besides emphasizing the importance of the commercial crew program, McAlister said NASA also needs to manage public and congressional expectations during upcoming test flights in its commercial cargo program, a precursor to the crew initiative.

SpaceX and Orbital Sciences Corp., two companies selected to deliver supplies to the space station, will fly their Dragon and Cygnus spacecraft to the complex for the first time later this year.

Using a prototype for its proposed crew capsule, SpaceX's Dragon demonstration flight is set to blast off as soon as April 30.

Last month, Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., outlined the symbolic influence the missions will have as Congress writes a budget for NASA's commercial crew program.

"We need SpaceX and Orbital to succeed, and we need to prove that the emerging commercial space industry can fly to the ISS safely and meet all of NASA's standards," Nelson said in a February speech at a Federal Aviation Administration commercial space conference.

"I want to see that SpaceX mission succeed, rendezvous and dock," Nelson said. "If that occurs in April, that is going to be right at the right time because that's about the time the decisions are starting to be made with regard to the appropriations."

But McAlister urged caution, saying NASA officials regularly meet with Capitol Hill staffers to set expectations .

His message: "Chill out about this flight. It's a big deal, but it's not make-or-break."

NASA's strategy is to partner with commercial providers to develop private spacecraft to rotate crews to and from the space station, freeing up government funding to pay for ambitious exploration missions to asteroids and other deep space destinations using a heavy-lift Space Launch System booster and the Orion capsule.

Until NASA's commercial partners develop and test a rocket and spacecraft to deliver astronauts to orbit, the space agency will continue purchasing seats on Russian Soyuz capsules for rides to and from the space station.

"I'm going to pay the Russians $450 million a year for every year that I don't have an American capability to put humans into low Earth orbit," Bolden said.

McAlister said the March 7 hearings made it clear NASA must better communicate the commercial crew program's importance, especially the need for healthy funding in fiscal 2013, which begins Oct. 1.

The budget request calls for nearly $830 million for the commercial crew program, up from the $406 million appropriated by Congress this year. But legislators cut this year's budget request by more than half, and in an election year with a backdrop of federal debt, another reduction is not unrealistic.

"There seems to be broad agreement that this is the right way to go," McAlister said Monday. "I think now it's just a matter of priorities. When you get such a limited amount of money, every dollar becomes critical."

But with the upcoming presidential and congressional elections, lawmakers could resist committing to a government budget until a new Congress and administration take power in early 2013.

Congress could pass a continuing resolution to extend funding at this year's levels. If legislators pass a continuing resolution, or CR, it would stymie the commercial crew program, limiting it to spending at a rate equal to fiscal 2012, in which the effort received less than half of its requested budget.

This year's $406 million commercial crew budget is far short of the $850 million asked for by the White House and NASA. According to NASA, the appropriation delayed the start of commercial human spaceflights from 2016 until 2017.

"We definitely need the president's budget request to stay on course," McAlister said. "If we get significant cutbacks, then it's probably going to take us longer. At some point, you have to step back and take a look at the whole equation and see if the strategy still is appropriate."

Another delay in commercial crew services would move the start of flights closer to the space station's currently planned 2020 retirement date.

McAlister said the commercial crew program could absorb a short-term continuing resolution. But a full-year continuing resolution would be "very difficult," he said.

"That would slow us down substantially because the budget request is for double that," McAlister said. "Would it be fatal? We'll have to see the proposals" from industry.

Commercial partners have until March 23 to respond to a NASA call for proposals in the next round of the commercial crew competition. The agency will award agreements to multiple companies by August worth up to $500 million each, expecting providers to finalize their rocket and spacecraft designs by mid-2014.

"It's the first time we've asked industry to sign up to a full-up end-to-end cost and schedule," McAlister said. "We want to know what it's going to take to get to the end game, and how fast do you think you can get it?"

Up to now, commercial firms have received government funding to develop and test subsystems, build ground test vehicles and formulate designs.

NASA projects it will cost the federal government $5 billion or $6 billion to help fund at least two commercial partners through development. The cost estimate does not account for operational crew rotation services.

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, accused the Obama administration of taking funding from the SLS and Orion programs to add to the commercial crew budget in the White House's fiscal 2013 spending request released in February.

"When we talk about commercial crew, it's really easy to use $406 million as the baseline," Bolden told Hutchison. "That's not the baseline. If you all recall, my original request was over $1 billion. We brought that down for fiscal year '12 to $850 million. We were cut by half. When I was asked last year, what effect does it have if you don't get $850 million? I said that directly affects the date of delivery of commercial crew capability. That is how we got to 2017 instead of 2015 or 2016. Any subsequent reductions from what the president has requested for commercial crew only serves to delay the amount of time that we have an American capability to get our crews to the International Space Station."

The Space Launch System and Orion programs would get a combined reduction of $326 million in the budget blueprint, which must be approved by Congress before taking effect.

The Obama administration's budget office and Congress agreed last year to set three top priorities for NASA: Extend the space station to 2020 and develop commercial vehicles to service it, start an exploration program with a heavy-lift rocket and crew capsule, and finish building the James Webb Space Telescope, the successor to Hubble.

"You called me with your budget proposal," Hutchison said. "And I see a $326 million combined reduction in Orion and SLS and a corresponding increase ... for commercial crew. I was frankly floored ... that it would be so blatant to take right out of Orion and SLS and put it into commercial crew, rather than trying to accomplish the joint goals that we have of putting forward both and making sure that we didn't take away from the timetables for the future to shore up the commercial crew."

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