Year in review in Year 2012 December 2012 December A PUBLICATION OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF AERONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS OF INSTITUTE AMERICAN THE OF A PUBLICATION ASTRONAUTICS

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SPACE AND MISSILES

ing Tiangong 1 laboratory module. Crew Space transportation and capsule were successfully recovered. NASA made significant progress in its This was a year of transition. NASA retired development of a heavy-lift Space Launch its iconic and first-of-its-kind space shuttle System, completing development and risk fleet, leaving the U.S. without a home- reduction tests for Orion Exploration Flight grown means to transport astronauts and Test 1 and awarding advanced booster their cargo to space. But while worldwide demonstration and risk reduction efforts. launch systems continue to operate with re- The emerging commercial transporta- markable success, a new generation of U.S. tion market achieved several milestones to- private and public launch systems is on the ward providing suborbital and orbital serv- horizon, with their sights set on both sub- ices. Under the NASA Commercial Orbital orbital and orbital space, including provid- Transportation Services (COTS) program, ing cargo and crew transportation services SpaceX successfully launched its Dragon to NASA. capsule on a demonstration mission to the As of this writing, there were nine U.S. ISS. It exchanged cargo, reentered, and was launches this year. United Launch Alliance recovered successfully—the first time for a Delta IV rockets delivered the WGS 4 satel- private company. It followed up this suc- lite for the Air Force and two NRO satel- cess by conducting CRS-1, the first com- lites. ULA Atlas V rockets launched five mercial resupply mission to the ISS, using payloads—AEHF 2, MUOS 1, the RBSP, and the Falcon 9 and Dragon systems, the first two NRO satellites. A Pegasus XL deployed of at least 12 such missions. Orbital Sciences NASA’s NuSTAR spacecraft, in its first completed development of its Antares launch since 2008. launch vehicle and initial Cygnus cargo ve- hicle, with plans to complete its COTS Microsoft cofounder demonstration mission early in 2013. Paul Allen teamed up with pioneer NASA awarded Space Act Agreements aerospace engineer (SAA) for further development to SpaceX Burt Rutan on a for its Falcon 9/Dragon, Boeing for its CST- venture called Stratolaunch Systems. 100 capsule, and Sierra Nevada for the The company plans to Dream Chaser lifting body under the Com- launch rockets into mercial Crew Integrated Capability pro- space from a carrier gram. Both CST-100 and Dream Chaser will plane that would be the biggest aircraft launch from ULA Atlas rockets. ATK also in history, with a made progress on its Liberty launch system wingspan of 385 ft under an unfunded SAA. (117 m). Virgin Galactic hopes to begin rocket- Internationally, Sea Launch carried out powered testing of SpaceShipTwo by year’s two launches for Intelsat, while India and end and commercial flights of space tourists Iran each had one launch. in 2013. XCOR announced plans for a Flor- As of the end of October, there were ida operations base. Blue Origin has con- five Ariane 5 launches; two more are sched- tinued development of New Shepard, con- uled before year’s end. The third ATV car- ducting successful pad escape and recovery ried supplies to the ISS. Vega’s maiden tests of its crew capsule.. flight lofted a LARES payload. Two Soyuz Under the NASA Flight Opportunities launches are on the manifest in 2012, one program, Armadillo, Masten Space, Near carrying two Galileo navigation satellites. Space, UP Aerospace, Virgin Galactic, Wit- Japan launched its third HTV cargo car- tinghill, and X-COR offer payload opportu- rier to the space station and a pair of satel- nities for suborbital missions. lites using its H2A. Russia had eight Soyuz DARPA’s Airborne Launch Assist Space launches; seven Proton launches, of which Access program awarded launch system de- five were for ILS; and one Rockot launch. velopment concept contracts to Lockheed Soyuz launches included three Progress Martin, Boeing, and Virgin Galactic for sys- cargo deliveries to the ISS and two with ISS tems capable of delivering 100 lb to LEO crewmembers. for less than $1 million. Microsoft co- China completed an ambitious schedule founder Paul Allen teamed up with pioneer by Carl Ehrlich, Doug Zimpfer, and the AIAA this year, with 11 Long March launches. aerospace engineer Burt Rutan on a ven- Space Transportation One delivered the Shenzhou 9 spacecraft, a ture called Stratolaunch Systems for air- Technical Committee crewed capsule that docked with the orbit- launch of much larger payloads.

68 AEROSPACE AMERICA/DECEMBER 2012