NASA: Safety Standards Will Not Be Relaxed for Commercial Vehicles

摘要

The Dragon cargo capsule developed by Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) will have to prove its ability to conduct precise orbital maneuvers to the satisfaction of the international space sta-tion partnership before it will be permit-ted to berth with the orbiting outpost in a proposed two-step demonstration antici-pated later this year, according to NASA officials.SpaceX has been developing Dragon and its Falcon 9 medium-lift launcher un-der a 2006 agreement with NASA that calls for three flight demonstrations of the hardware before the company can begin routine resupply runs to the orbiting out-post next year under a separate contract valued at $1.6 billion.