NASA funds commercial space travel

by Chris Owen on

Space shuttle Endeavour is ready to fly it’s 25th and final mission on April 29th. That brings us one step closer to the end of the U.S. space program as we know it and one step closer to the future of space travel. In preparation for that future NASA recently awarded $millions to several private contractors for the construction of space taxi’s able to fly to the International Space Station after the shuttles have been retired.

Called the Commercial Crew Development Program, NASA’s goal in this second round of grants is “to accelerate the availability of U.S. commercial crew transportation capabilities and reduce the gap in American human spaceflight capability. Through this activity, NASA also may be able to spur economic growth as potential new space markets are created.” the space agency said in a press release.

This week, NASA awarded between $22 million and $92.3 million to four different companies for work on commercial crew space transportation system concepts to include the design and development of elements of their systems.

“We’re committed to safely transporting U.S. astronauts on American-made spacecraft and ending the outsourcing of this work to foreign governments,” NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said. “These agreements are significant milestones in NASA’s plans to take advantage of American ingenuity to get to low-Earth orbit, so we can concentrate our resources on deep space exploration.”

The lions share, $92 million, will go to Boeing for development of their front-runner CST-100 spacecraft that uses existing materials and technology that is safe and affordable. The CST-100 will carry up to seven people or a combination of people and cargo and is compatible with a variety of existing expendable launch vehicles. Another company, SpaceX will work on that concept too, their version called Dragon.

Meanwhile, Sierra Nevada works on a winged and piloted spacecraft called the Dream Chaser Orbital System. This one will launch on an Atlas V rocket, and will have on-board propulsion utilizing their hybrid rocket motor technology.

Finally, Blue Origin, the Washington-based firm founded by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, is working on a reusable suborbital ship known as New Shepard. This one blasts off from their launch site in Texas where it will take-off vertically and accelerate for about two and a half minutes before shutting off its rocket engines and coasting into space. In space, the Crew Capsule will separate from the PM and the two will reenter and land separately for re-use.

NASA photo

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Meanwhile, new UFO reports suggest these guys better hurry up and get us up in to space.

Southwest grounds planes, investigation underway

by Chris Owen on

As a result of Sacramento bound Southwest Airlines flight 812 making an emergency descent Friday night after a large hole appeared in the fuselage, 79 Southwest planes have been grounded.

While no one was seriously injured Friday as the Southwest flight carrying over 100 people rapidly lost cabin pressure and made scary descent from 34,500 feet, landing safely in Arizona, questions about maintenance of the aircraft are being asked.

The Associated Press reports that a review of Federal Aviation Administration records of maintenance problems for the 15-year-old plane showed that “in March 2010 at least eight instances were found of cracking in the aircraft frame, which is part of the fuselage. The records showed that those cracks were repaired.”

“The safety of our Customers and Employees is our primary concern,” said Mike Van de Ven, Southwest’s executive vice president and chief operating officer in a statement on Southwest’s web site. “We are working closely with Boeing to conduct these proactive inspections and support the investigation. We also are working aggressively to attempt to minimize the impact to our Customers’ travel schedules today.”

Southwest is working with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Boeing, builder of the aircraft to determine the cause.

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Flickr photo by gTarded

Drunken pilots delay flight

by Chris Owen on

We’re used to waiting on the tarmac for luggage to be loaded. Some people make a game out of looking for their bags. Sitting at the end of the runway too is to be expected. We don’t want the planes colliding in mid-air. But a flight delayed because the pilot is drunk is hard to anticipate.

A Boeing 737-700 full of passengers is nothing to be flying drunk but that’s exactly what would have happened on a charter plane in Costa Rica. Apparently the pilots had been partying for seven hours at a hotel before they were to take to the air

“The assistant captain underwent an examination of alcohol (which) turned out to be positive, while the skipper refused to blow in the balloon.” Alvaro Vargas, Assistant Director of the Civil Aviation Authority of Costa Rica told TravelMonitor

The flight was delayed by 24 hours to allow time for the pilots to sober up. No word on if passengers were allowed off the aircraft.

The charter company was sorry though. “They were not in the right condition to lead the plane. They were relieved of their duties” at least until the end of the investigation” the company said in a statement.

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Flickr photo by rekay22

Breaking: United grounds all Boeing 757 aircraft

by Grant Martin on

If you were scheduled on a United 757 earlier today and are wondering why it was canceled, we now know why. According to the Wall St. Journal, the airline is in the process of grounding its entire fleet in order to perform maintenance checks to air data computers that were modified earlier this year.

According to Gadling’s resident pilot Kent Wien:

There are two air data computers on every 757 and they’re used to take inputs from pitot tubes, static ports and temperature probes to determine the speed, rate of climb and altitude of the airplane. Any difference in the captain and the co-pilot’s side requires a quick determination as to which side is giving the correct data. In 1996 a 757 experienced a blocked pitot tube that caused it to crash off the coast of the Dominican Republic. While not the same problem as an ADC failure, the failures would look very similar to the pilots.

In this specific case, checks have acturally already been completed on the 96 767s; this round of study is in order to comply with Federal Aviation Administration requirements that were not followed at that time. Continental‘s 62 aircraft are not affected.

Each check takes less than two hours so the groundings should be brief. But operation on the aircraft will be disrupted for the rest of today and into tomorrow’s schedules.

Contacted for comment, United Airlines’ Charles Hobart confirmed:

We have about 25 cancellations. The maintenance checks are ongoing and will continue until completed. We expect minimal further disruption tomorrow.

How we used to fly: Luxury on board the Boeing 314 Flying Boat

by Scott Carmichael on

Flying nowadays means being packed together in seats with barely enough legroom to stretch – but it wasn’t always like that. Back in the early days of aviation, flying meant putting on your good suit, and enjoying fine dining in a luxurious lounge before spending the night in your private sleeping accomodations.

Sure, the trip took considerably longer than it does nowadays, but with this kind of luxury, there was no real desire to get anywhere quick.

The photo you see above is from the dining room of the Boeing 314 Clipper, which flew up to 74 passengers from the U.S. to Hawaii and China “in a matter of days”. The plane flew during the 1930’s and 40’s before being replaced by even larger planes.

After dinner, guests could enjoy board games in the main lounge, or retreat to their private cabin. The pinnacle of luxury was in the rear of the aircraft, where you’d find the De Luxe Honeymoon compartment.

This is just one of many photos collected by Airshowbuzz.com. Other photos in their collection show the cabin crew and the spacious cockpit – definitely worth checking out!