NASA Preparing Follow-on Commercial Cargo Delivery Contract

摘要

NASA is preparing to take bids on a second round of cargo deliveries to the international space station in a follow-up to the Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contracts Orbital Sciences Corp. and Space Exploration Technologies Corp. are now flying for the agency. NASA announced the plan in a request for information released Feb. 21. Responses from industry are due March 21. The document, which NASA posted online, did not say when the agency would solicit bids, or when it would make an award for the CRS 2 contract. The expected budget for CRS 2 is between $1 billion and $1.4 billion a year from 2017 to 2024, NASA said. NASA envisions four to five flights a year under CRS 2. The White House announced in January it wants to extend space station operations through 2024. Congress has currently committed to fund the space station through 2020.