NASA selects SpaceX to take over spare launch pad
In good news for SpaceX, bad news for Blue Origin, NASA announced that it has selected SpaceX to begin negotiations for its spare launch pad.
SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in December, carrying a communications satellite. NASA announced today that it has selected SpaceX to enter negotiations for a lease to use its spare launch pad at Kennedy Space Center.
John Raoux/AP
NASA said on Friday that it has selected private spaceflight company to begin negotiations for assuming control of NASA鈥檚 spare launch pad at Florida鈥檚 Kennedy Space Center. The announcement ends a months-long competition between SpaceX and spaceflight company聽 for the rights to launch pad 39A, a coveted spot that had emerged as a symbol of bitter competition in the burgeoning private spaceflight sector.
The news comes one day after the Government Accountability Office聽rejected Blue Origin鈥檚 protest that NASA had mismanaged the application process for the lease to launch pad 39A, which has been unused since the 2011 dismantling of NASA鈥檚 space shuttle program, but has yet cost the space agency聽some $100,000 per month in maintenance costs.The GAO鈥檚 decision had freed NASA to choose a leaser for the pad.
鈥淲hile the GAO protest was underway, NASA was prohibited from selecting a commercial partner,鈥� the agency said, in a statement. 鈥淗owever, while the GAO considered the protest, NASA continued evaluating the proposals in order to be prepared to make a selection when permitted to do so.鈥�
鈥淎fter the GAO rendered its decision Thursday in NASA鈥檚 favor, the agency completed its evaluation and selection process,鈥� it said. 鈥� to negotiate the terms of its lease for LC-39A.鈥�
NASA had solicited proposals to take over launch pad 39A from the private spaceflight sector back in May.聽Since then, SpaceX and Blue Origin, the two billionaire-backed companies that submitted applications,聽have engaged in an at times acrimonious contest for the pad, which each venture has pegged as a plumb spot from which to launch spacefaring ambitions.
SpaceX is now poised to use the pad as the launch site for its line of Falcon rockets. The rockets underpin the company鈥檚 hopes of finding a niche in the booming private satellite launch business, as well as winning a NASA contract to become the space agency鈥檚 vehicle supplier for missions between the International Space Station and Earth.
Blue Origin had indicated that it would share the launch pad with the United Launch Alliance, the Boeing and Lockheed Martin joint venture that dominates the US market for private satellite launches. ULA is SpaceX鈥檚 main obstacle to entering the satellite launch market in the United States. Blue Origin is also developing its own line of suborbital and orbital capsules that it has suggested could compete against SpaceX's Dragon capsule.聽
SpaceX has in recent months been making rapid advances in its bid to enter both the astronaut-ferrying and satellite launch business. Earlier this December, the company launched into space a satellite from Luxembourg-based company SES, using an upgraded version of its Falcon 9 rocket. SpaceX had beat out two major launch companies for the job, underpricing the competitors with a launch price of $55 million.
SpaceX has also signed several other launch contracts, including one to launch three in 2018 and another to launch a in 2018 and 2019.
The company鈥檚 Dragon capsule, its vehicle submission to NASA to replace the scuttled space shuttle program, made its most recent trip to the ISS in March. It is so far the only active spacecraft capable of transporting large amounts of supplies to and from the station.