USAF Expects To Approve SpaceX New Entrant Plan Soon

摘要

The Air Force is about a week away from cosigning a plan that would move launch provider SpaceX into the certification process to compete for the service's medium-class space launch business, according to the chief of the Space and Missile Systems Center. Lt. Gen. Ellen Pawlikowski told reporters during a May 9 conference call that negotiations between the Air Force and SpaceX over a plan for certifying the company as a new entrant to its Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program will likely be finalized within one week's time. "We have worked with them to get down to the nitty-gritty of exactly what we would do to implement the [New Entrant Certification Guide] with them and we are within a week, if not imminent within days, of being prepared to cosign that plan and start performing the engineering reviews that go along with them moving towards certification," Pawlikowski said.