Full sea trials of the new lifeboat will be held later this year and the first operational craft will be ready in 2013.

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It will take about three months for Nasa engineers to test the platform and get it ready for use at its operational altitude of 705km.

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But ATK and Astrium believe their experience means they could have the 90m-high (300ft) Liberty rocket ready to fly by 2013, and operational with astronauts on board by 2015.

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