ATK and NASA signed an unfunded Space Act Agreement (SAA) June 7, 2012 to work together during the development of ATK’s commercial Liberty™ Launch System, an agreement that also supports the 2010 National Space Policy by furthering international partnerships.
More on this agreement
The Liberty launch vehicle is a concept proprosed to NASA by ATK and Astrium under phase 2 of the NASA Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) program.
Liberty is a combination of hardware from the defunct Ares I project (the 5-segment version of the Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster for a first stage) and from the Ariane 5 launcher (the Vulcain cryogenic main engine, which was slated to carry the Hermes spacecraft as a second stage).
It is projected that the first launch will be as early as 2013, with astronauts launching by 2015.
Liberty is advertised as a vehicle to service the International Space Station for crew and cargo, but its capacities and cost could make it also a launcher for government and commercial satellites, including to Geostationary transfer orbit.
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
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