spacetoday.net: Commercial crew providers may not be certified until 2020

Posted: Sat, Jan 20, 2018, 6:46 PM ET (2346 GMT)
Boeing CST-100 illustration

The GAO said Wednesday commercial crew vehicles may not be certified until early 2020, risking a gap in NASA's access to the space station. In testimony during a House space subcommittee hearing on the commercial crew program, the GAO said that NASA's internal projections estimate that SpaceX may not win certification until December 2019 and Boeing not until February 2020. Those companies' current schedules call for certification in early 2019, after uncrewed and crewed test flights late this year. A delay in certification could risk a loss of access to the station, as NASA's current agreements to fly astronauts on Soyuz vehicles end by the fall of 2019. NASA said at the hearing it is "brainstorming ideas" to provide additional schedule margin for the commercial crew companies.