- NASA is pushing to commercialize space travel to lower the cost of getting astronauts to and from orbit.
- The US space agency is also opening up private access to the International Space Station and, to that end, announced a partnership with Virgin Galactic for training private astronauts.
- NASA on Tuesday also announced that it's standing up a new Suborbital Crew or "SubC" office to fly astronauts, scientists, and other agency employees on suborbital flights to the edge of space.
- Although the agency is seeking information from the industry, leading contenders include Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin, which are close to launching paying passengers on suborbital flights.
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NASA is so happy with its efforts to commercialize space travel for its astronauts and supplies to orbit, the US agency is opening a new office to foster private spaceflight closer to Earth.
Called Suborbital Crew, or SubC, the office is an offshoot of NASA's existing Commercial Crew Program— the effort that, in May, launched astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard SpaceX's new Crew Dragon spaceship.
The agency is looking to be "one of many customers" on such missions. as NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine often says, in order to increase its options, lower costs, and foster more private industry in orbit. Practically, that means private astronauts will be flying alongside bonafide NASA astronauts to the ISS, and aboard commercially owned and operated spaceships.
To that end, NASA on Monday announced a public-private partnership with Virgin Galactic to help book, supply, and train private astronauts headed to low-Earth orbit some 250 miles above the planet.
But NASA is also seeing the development of suborbital spaceflight companies like Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin, which aim to rocket passengers to suborbital space — unofficially, about 60 miles in altitude — and back. Such flights would provide several minutes of weightlessness and stunning views of Earth and the stars.
However, balloon-borne space capsules like those planned by Space Perspective could ostensibly lift people, instruments, and experiments high into the stratosphere, which comes close to emulating space-like conditions.
In these developments, NASA sees an opportunity to further commercialize and expand its work in space.
"For the first time in the agency's history, NASA has initiated a new effort to enable NASA personnel to fly on future commercial suborbital spaceflights," the agency said in a release that announced SubC on Tuesday.
NASA is currently seeking information through August 7 from companies that might participate in the program and seek approval from NASA to fly its people and payloads on suborbital missions.
"We've seen how industry can develop innovative crew transportation systems that meet NASA's safety requirements and standards," Kathy Lueders, the new chief of NASA's Human Spaceflight Office, said in the release. "Now we'll be looking at a new way of enabling NASA personnel to fly on commercial suborbital space systems by considering factors such as flight experience and flight history."
The program may also help set the NASA-level bar for how spaceflight companies approach their missions: One of SubC's early goals is to work with the Federal Aviation Administration "to define the approach for system qualification for NASA personnel, as well as identify the specific performance capabilities NASA desires."
'Opening space for good'
George Whitesides, the CEO of Virgin Galactic — an obvious candidate to provide NASA seats or entire chartered flights to suborbital space — applauded the formation of SubC.
"We are excited to see NASA advancing their plans to fly agency astronauts and researchers on commercial suborbital spacecraft. Across a range of programs and destinations, NASA is catalyzing innovation and leading the way toward a positive future in space," Whitesides said in a statement emailed to Business Insider. "This comes on the heels of our Space Act agreement with NASA this week about training private astronauts for ISS missions."
Whitesides added: "Public-private partnerships are a key to opening space for good, and we're inspired for the future of human space exploration."
Blue Origin, founded by Jeff Bezos in 2000, is another leading choice, since the company is working toward its first crewed suborbital flights with a reusable rocket system called New Shepard.
"We applaud NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine's leadership to advance public-private partnerships in space," Clay Mowry, Blue Origin's vice president of global sales, said in a statement emailed to Business Insider. "We're looking forward to offering suborbital crewed space transportation services to NASA with New Shepard."
In response to a question from reporter Mike Sheetz at CNBC, Bridenstine tweeted that Scott Colloredo would head the new office.
Colloredo most recently worked out of NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida as the deputy director of its engineering directorate, where he helped with the Commercial Crew Program.
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