Pictures: NASA's Space Shuttle Substitute?

System Check

Photograph courtesy SNC Space Systems

Competing spacecraft designs must pass safety and reliability tests, as shown in this picture of the Dream Chaser concept undergoing structural testing.

The goal of supporting private manned spacecraft is to bridge the "spaceflight gap" left by the retirement of the shuttles—and to allow the space agency to focus on longer-range missions, such as sending rovers to Mars, NASA has said.

The hope is that NASA astronauts will soon be able to buy tickets to space in much the same way the rest of us buy airline tickets.

It's an exciting era, said David Brin, a science fiction writer who holds a Ph.D. in space science from the University of California, San Diego.

"Ever since Challenger blew up [in 1986], NASA's approach has been to redouble caution," added Brin, who applauds the risktaking ethos he sees among the private-shuttle contenders.

(See "Rare Pictures From the Dawn of NASA Spaceflight.")

Published September 4, 2012

Dragon Delivers

Photograph courtesy NASA

SpaceX's unmanned Dragon spacecraft is corralled by the International Space Station's robotic arm on May 25. The flight proved that the reusable Dragon, which can be reconfigured to carry a crew, can deliver cargo to the space station—the first commercial spacecraft to do so.

Despite its pioneering mandate, Dragon lands the old-fashioned way, with an Apollo-style splashdown.

(Related: "SpaceX Launches for Space Station—Like 'Winning the Super Bowl.'")

Published September 4, 2012

Rarin' to Go

Photograph courtesy SpaceX

Potential crew members, shown in April, are already ground-testing the manned version of the Dragon capsule, which will carry up to seven astronauts.

"SpaceX [is] counting on winning contracts to deliver payloads into orbit, predictably and reliably," Brin said. "This will soon include human crews for the space station."

(Read about the future of spaceflight.)

Published September 4, 2012

21st-Century Barnstormer?

Illustration courtesy Boeing

Also hoping to transport NASA astronauts is Boeing Corporation, whose entry—the CST-100 (illustrated)—is also designed to carry a crew of seven.

Unlike Sierra Nevada's Dream Chaser, the Boeing capsule has no wings. It won't so much land as parachute, with the impact cushioned by airbags.

Said Brin of the boom in commercial spacecraft development: "We may at last be ready to embark on the equivalent of the great age of barnstorming aircraft development in the 1920s.

"If so, it [will come] about from a mix of government investment in meticulous process and detail—and the unleashing of private ambition."

Published September 4, 2012

Next:Rare Pictures From the Dawn of NASA Spaceflight

Photograph courtesy Arizona State University/NASA

Published September 4, 2012