NASA Directs Boeing and SpaceX to Stop Work on CCtCAP

Boeing and SpaceX were directed by NASA to stop work under the Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCAP) contracts because of Sierra Nevada’s protest of the award.

The CCtCAP contracts were awarded on September 16, 2014:  $4.2 billion to Boeing and $2.6 billion to SpaceX.  CCtCAP is the final phase of NASA’s commercial crew development program that is expected to lead to new crew space transportation systems by the end of 2017.  Since the space shuttle was terminated in 2011, NASA has had to rely on Russia to take crews to and from the International Space Station (ISS).  The commercial crew program is intended to restore America’s ability to launch American astronauts on American rockets from American soil.

Boeing. SpaceX and Sierra Nevada are all funded under the current phase of the program called Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCAP).  Boeing has completed all of its CCiCAP milestones, but SpaceX and Sierra Nevada have not.

Sierra Nevada filed a protest of the CCtCAP award with the Government Accountablity Office (GAO) on September 25.

NASA spokeswoman Stephanie Schierholz said in an emailed statement this afternoon that “Pursuant to the GAO protest, NASA has instructed Boeing and SpaceX to stop performance of the CCtCAP contracts.”  The stop work order does not affect CCiCAP, however: “All work related to NASA’s  Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCAP) Space Act Agreements (SAA) will continue,” she added.