ASAP insist on NASA certification amid praise for SpaceX success

NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) have written to Administrator Charles Bolden with their latest overview from their recent quarterly meeting, praising the success of SpaceX’s C2+ mission with Dragon, before noting “a few successes” should not detract from pushing commercial companies through NASA’s strict certification requirements for upcoming crewed missions.
ASAP:
Vice Admiral Joseph W. Dyer, USN (Ret.), Chairman of the ASAP once again led the meeting, conducted in May, before the minutes were sent in a letter to General Bolden in mid-June.
The meeting was conducted at the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), with Admiral Dyer noting his “great respect for the Center and the workforce, and the progress with the Space Launch System (SLS) is but one example of why that respect is well placed.”
At the time of the meeting, the media was all abuzz with SpaceX’s success with their Dragon spacecraft, as it successfully concluded its C2+ mission objectives via its debut trip to the International Space Station (ISS). Admiral Dyer opted to rightly praise the Californian company in his opening remarks.
“The ASAP recognized the successful launch of the SpaceX Dragon capsule and its rendezvous with the ISS, and conveys the Panel’s compliments to ...