spacetoday.net: ULA signs CCDev agreement for Atlas 5

Posted: Wed, Jul 20, 2011, 7:07 AM ET (1107 GMT)
Atlas 5 launch of PAN (ULA)

NASA and United Launch Alliance (ULA) signed an agreement Monday to continue studying human-rating the Atlas 5 rocket for commercial crew spacecraft. Under the unfunded Space Act Agreement, ULA will perform a variety of analyses to understand what modifications, if any, are required to the vehicle to meet NASA human-rating requirements. NASA will not provide ULA any funding under the agreement but will offer its expertise to support the work. ULA had submitted a proposal for a funded agreement in the second round of NASA's Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) program but did not receive an award after NASA decided to focus its funding on spacecraft development. Three of the four companies that did receive CCDev-2 awards--Blue Origin, Boeing, and Sierra Nevada Corporation--plan to or are considering using the Atlas 5 to launch their crew spacecraft.