NASA adds commercial mini-shuttle to space station supply fleet.

• NASA  engage a third company to fly cargo to the International Space Station,  joining an  original space plane  construct by Sierra Nevada Corp to the commercial fleet, the U.S. space  organizasaid on Thursday.
•  Privately owned Sierra Nevada will connect incumbents Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, and Orbital ATK in ferrying transfer to the space station drawn in late 2019, the National Aeronautics and Space management said.
• Words of the contracts were not reveal, however the general importance of the three awards is limited at $14 billion.  All company is guaranteed a least of six flights between 2019 and 2024.
• NASA  approximate it will  required about four cargo runs per year, but  specialist to spend “significantly” less than $14 billion altogether, station program manager Kirk Shireman told  journalist on a  discussion call.
• “Price was very, very necessary in terms of choosing these three companies, but they are so various in their ability,” Shireman said.
• Adding Sierra Nevada’s Dream Chaser space plane, which lands on standard runways, to the fleet opens new chances for biological and other investigation, said station main scientist Julie Robinson.
• “There are a too many reasons to use animal studies to look at things like  stability and sensory motor effects (of microgravity), and those are going to  modify so  quickly on return that we  required to have the animals back right away,” she said.
• To extend the space station, Dream Chaser will rush off aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket from Florida and land like an airplane at the Kennedy Space middle, or other area, Sierra Nevada Vice President Mark Sirangelo said in a conference.
• SpaceX’s Dragon capsules recently splash down in the Pacific Ocean, direct the company specialization to be able to touch down on land as well.
• Orbital’s Cygnus capsules, which can  starts on the company’s Antares rocket from Virginia or an Atlas 5 from Florida,  blaze up as they fall  direct  to the atmosphere, giving NASA an  chance to  clear trash from the station.
• Boeing and Lockheed-Martin, which is coworker in United Launch Alliance, failed in individual bids to win space station cargo delivery contracts.
• Shireman said starts accidents by Orbital and SpaceX factored in to NASA’s decision to add a third company into the mix.