The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) pushed back the next round of contract awarding for the International Space Station (ISS) resupply mission not later than Jan. 30, 2016. The American space agency already pushed back the awarding in June and September earlier this year, but this time, NASA also turned down Boeing's submission for the $14 billion-worth Commercial Resupply Services contracts (CRS-2).
Boeing Company is one of the five companies initially competing for the CRS-2. Boeing's submission included the use of its modified CST-100 Starliner unmanned spacecraft to transport NASA astronauts back and forth the ISS. The news came as another blow to Boeing who also lost in the Pentagon's Long Range Strike Bomber competition, which is believed to be an $80 billion contract.
"We received a letter from NASA and are out of CRS-2. I don't think we'll know the 'why' until our debrief with NASA," wrote Boeing spokeswoman Kelly Kaplan in an email statement.
Industry rumors have been circulating that the submission from Lockheed Martin Space Systems was quietly eliminated. This leaves three companies – Sierra Nevada Corporation, SpaceX and Orbital ATK – in the running for the two remaining contracts that will complete the U.S. spacecraft which will resupply the ISS from 2018 to 2024. Orbital and SpaceX won the original CRS contracts in 2008.
"CRS-2 is a complex procurement. The anticipated award date has been revised to no later than January 30, 2016, to allow time to complete a thorough proposal evaluation and selection," said NASA spokesman Dan Huot.
The three failed cargo missions in the past 13 months could be another reason for NASA's delay. Two of the three failed cargos belonged to Orbital ATK and SpaceX. It seems that NASA has not lost their faith in the two companies since the two are still in the competition.
Another reason could be NASA's concerns about its budget as NASA Administrator Charles Bolden expressed that cutting NASA's budget would definitely affect the space agency's operations as well as their third-party contractors.
A resolution to help NASA stay in budget for 2016 has been passed by the Senate. A congressional vote is set in December, and perhaps NASA has been delaying its CSR-2 decisions to wait for the December votes to come in.
