Bigelow is collaborating with Boeing on a commercial crew capsule that may eventually provide transit.
This was a commitment to carry forward development of the Orion crew capsule.
What would be an upper stage, with a crew capsule and its emergency escape mechanism, is actually a simulator made to the correct shape and weight.
Constellation would have developed a heavy lift launch vehicle, crew capsule, and other technology needed to return astronauts to the Moon, and then eventually carry them on to Mars.
It will probably direct that development of a new heavy lift launch vehicle begin much sooner based on technology already in hand, and that the crew capsule being developed for the canceled Constellation program be retained for other purposes.
While NASA works with U.S. industry partners to develop these capabilities, the agency also is developing the Orion spacecraft and the Space Launch System (SLS), a crew capsule and heavy-lift rocket to provide an entirely new capability for human exploration.
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After a two-day journey aboard the Soyuz capsule, the crew will dock with the space station, overlapping briefly with the current crew - station commander Mike Fossum of Nasa, Japan's Satoshi Furukawa and Russia's Sergei Volkov - who will then return to earth.
Russia's Vesti TV news says the Yuri Dolgoruky's escape capsule can accommodate the whole crew and float to the surface in an emergency.
If NASA gives the go-ahead, the crew will use the arm to attach the capsule to the station and begin unloading supplies, according to SpaceX.
Science editor Alan Boyle's blog: NASA and the European Space Agency have signed an agreement calling for the Europeans to provide the service module for the Orion space capsule, the U.S. space agency's crew vehicle for exploration beyond Earth orbit.
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Nasa's policy of outsourcing its cargo and crew transport needs is intended to find savings that can be ploughed back into building a rocket and capsule system capable of taking humans to more challenging destinations.
Nasa's policy of outsourcing its cargo and crew transport needs is intended to find savings that can be ploughed back into building a rocket and capsule system capable of taking humans beyond low-Earth to more challenging destinations.
KOROLYOV, Russia (Reuters) -- A Russian space capsule docked with the orbiting station Mir on Monday to allow a joint Russian-French-Slovak crew to embark on what could be the last mission to the aging craft.
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