KSC-2011-6950

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA and Alliant Techsystems (ATK) managers announce an agreement that could accelerate the availability of U.S. commercial crew transportation capabilities in the Press Site auditorium at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. From left are Candrea Thomas, NASA Public Affairs; Ed Mango, Commercial Crew Program manager, NASA; Kent Rominger, vice president, Strategy and Business Development, ATK Aerospace; and John Schumacher, vice president, Space Programs, EADS North America. The unfunded Space Act Agreement (SAA) through NASA's Commercial Crew Program will allow the agency and ATK to review and discuss Liberty system requirements, safety and certification plans, computational models of rocket stage performance, and avionics architecture designs. The agreement outlines key milestones including an Initial System Design review, during which ATK will present to NASA officials the Liberty systems level requirements, preliminary design, and certification process development. For more information about NASA's Commercial Crew Program, visit http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/commercial. Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann