NASA's Space Launch Intiative

The agency's revised plan spells out roles for two programs involving Next Generation Launch Technology (NGLT) and an Orbital Space Plane (OSP) aimed at providing safe, affordable access to the International Space Station (ISS).

In April NASA announced that about $135 million would be awarded to three competing contractor teams in support of NASA's ongoing OSP program under the Space Launch Initiative (SLI) to provide crew rescue and transfer capabilities to the ISS. The awards are a part of a contract modification of a Cycle 1 SLI solicitation originally awarded in May 2001 (see Table), extending existing contracts through July 2004.

The three system design contractor teams-The Boeing Co. of Seal Beach, CA; Lockheed Martin Corp. of Denver; and a team of Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, VA, and Northrop Grumman of El Segundo, CA-will each receive about $45 million to design potential candidates for OSP vehicles, ground operations, and supporting technologies needed to conduct missions to and from the ISS. The contract modifications include work to develop specifications, including systems analysis, trade studies, and concept feasibility, in preparation for an OSP program systems-requirements review in October.