NASA pulls plug on private space venture

NASA said Thursday it dropped a multimillion-dollar contract with an aerospace company because the firm failed to secure enough private financing to develop a new commercial spaceship.

Rocketplane Kistler was one of two companies awarded "seed money" from NASA last year to develop and test launch new spacecraft with the idea they would one day deliver cargo to the International Space Station.

NASA said it informed Oklahoma City-based Rocketplane of its decision in a letter from associate administrator for exploration systems Rick Gilbrech.

Rocketplane's chairman and CEO, George French Jr., said he was still confident the company would participate in a NASA commercial spaceship program in the future.

"I'm very proud of our team. We passed numerous NASA milestones and we're highly rated by NASA," he said.

Of the $206.8 million US NASA agreed to invest in Rocketplane, the company received $32.1 million, NASA said. The remaining $174.7 million will be offered to aerospace firms in a new competition.

The second company awarded seed money, Space Exploration Technologies Corp., or SpaceX, of El Segundo, Calif., has met all of its financial and technical milestones, NASA said.

NASA remains committed to the project, Alan Lindenmoyer, manager of the commercial crew and cargo program office, said in a news release.

"A vibrant commercial space industry will help NASA fulfill its promise to support the International Space Station, retire the space shuttle and return humans to the moon," Lindenmoyer said.

NASA's decision is the latest setback for Rocketplane, which in 2001 announced plans for a space tourism company that would use a spaceport in western Oklahoma to make space flight as common as commercial air travel for those who can afford the $200,000 ticket.

But the company has yet to get its spacecraft off the ground, and in spite of mounting financial problems French has said Rocketplane remains committed to the project.

Design drawings and other specifics about the company's Rocketplane XP reusable spacecraft are scheduled to be rolled out at an X Prize event for space exploration and technology in New Mexico next week, French said.

Financial pressures related to development of a separate vehicle for NASA also slowed work on the Rocketplane XP spacecraft, officials said.