Orion Test Launch Opens the Door for Alternative Human-rated Upper Stage

摘要

NASA's quest for a rocket upper stage to boost its Orion deep-space capsule beyond low Earth orbit in test flights opens the door for an alternative human space launch capability that could impact the fledgling efforts to develop commercial passenger spaceships. The agency issued a Jan. 9 call for sources of an Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS) to be used during two demonstration flights of the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle, designed to travel to destinations beyond the international space station's orbit. The first launch, slated for December 2017, would be unmanned, but the second, scheduled for 2021, would include astronauts. Both would likely entail test flights around the Moon.