NASA

Among the spaceship projects receiving NASA support are Boeing Co.'s CST-100 capsule (left), Sierra Nevada Corp.'s Dream Chaser space plane (middle) and SpaceX's Dragon capsule (right).

Americans could be flying into orbit on U.S.-built spaceships again as early as 2015 — but the first fliers won't be NASA astronauts or millionaire space tourists. Instead, they'll be commercial test pilots, employed by the Boeing Co., Sierra Nevada Corp., SpaceX or maybe even a dark-horse company like Blue Origin, the venture funded by Amazon.com billionaire Jeff Bezos.

Those four companies provided updates on their efforts to build new spaceships capable of carrying astronauts to and from the International Space Station during a Wednesday news briefing at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. One of the companies, Blue Origin, is wrapping up its work for NASA and is no longer receiving money through the Commercial Crew Program, or CCP. But SpaceX, Boeing and Sierra Nevada are splitting more than $1 billion that's to be paid out through 2014.

NASA's manager for the Commercial Crew Program, Ed Mango, said the agency and its commercial partners are already talking about "Phase 2" for the program. The certification requirements and timetable for Phase 2 are expected to be set this year, with contracts awarded by May 2014, Mango said. "We believe that there’ll be more than one, probably two, three, maybe others, that will be ready to compete for Phase 2," he said.

That phase would move the program forward to 2017, by which time NASA expects to be flying its astronauts on U.S. launch vehicles for the first time since the shuttle fleet was retired in 2011. In the meantime, NASA will be paying the Russians more than $60 million per seat for round trips to the space station.

"Our target was to repatriate that industry back to the United States, and that's what we're doing," said Mark Sirangelo, chairman of SNC Space Systems at Sierra Nevada.

Here's how the companies' plans are shaping up:

SpaceX: Former NASA astronaut Garrett Reisman, SpaceX's commercial crew project manager, said his company is working toward a launch pad abort test by the end of the year at Kennedy Space Center. An in-flight test that would demonstrate the ability to abort a launch safely during ascent, "at the worst possible moment," is planned for April 2014, he said. If SpaceX sticks to its schedule, it would use its Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule for a manned test flight in mid-2015, and would send test pilots to the space station by the end of 2015. "We're not selling tickets. Don't call our toll-free number," Reisman joked.

Sierra Nevada Corp.: Sirangelo said his company was planning to drop its Dream Chaser mini-shuttle from a carrier airplane for its first autonomous, free-flying glide test in the first quarter of this year. That would be followed by a series of autonomous and crewed aerodynamic test flights, similar to the tests conducted by NASA using the prototype shuttle Enterprise in the late 1970s. Then Sierra Nevada's team would launch the Dream Chaser into space — first on suborbital test flights, and eventually into orbit. Last year, the company said manned orbital flights could begin in 2016.

The Boeing Co.: John Mulholland, vice president and program manager for Boeing's commercial crew program, said his company proposed conducting a three-day orbital spaceflight with a Boeing crew in 2016. The head of Boeing's flight test program is former NASA astronaut Chris Ferguson, who commanded Atlantis' crew during the final flight of the shuttle program. "He is defining crew requirements," Mulholland said. Before the test pilots fly, Boeing will conduct an unmanned orbital trial of its CST-100 space capsule, plus an altitude abort test.

NASA / Blue Origin

An artist's conception shows Blue Origin's orbital space vehicle.

Blue Origin: The company that Bezos founded in 2000 is not receiving NASA funding during the current phase of the agency's spaceship development program — but Blue Origin's president and program manager, Rob Meyerson, said he's still doing business with the space agency. "We're working with NASA to extend our Space Act Agreement in an unfunded manner," Meyerson said. The company is continuing to test its BE-3 rocket engine and work on its next prototype propulsion vehicle. Eventually, Blue Origin aims to launch crews on suborbital as well as orbital spaceflights.

The plans for future flights are dependent on continued NASA support — and Phil McAlister, NASA's commercial spaceflight development director, acknowledged that "the budget is going to be an extremely challenging topic."

If NASA's funding is reduced, Reisman said his company would continue to move toward manned flights, but at a slower pace. "Human spaceflight is our reason for being. We are in this for the long haul," Reisman said. "There will be impacts to cost and schedule, should funding dry up. But we're going to get there eventually."

More about the commercial space race:

• Blue Origin aces pad-escape test
• Boeing looks for test pilots
• Sierra Nevada's mini-shuttle passes first flight test
• SpaceX capsule splashes down after space station delivery

Alan Boyle is NBCNews.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. To keep up with Cosmic Log as well as NBCNews.com's other stories about science and space, sign up for the Tech & Science newsletter, delivered to your email in-box every weekday. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.

Blue Origin

This computational fluid dynamics simulation shows Blue Origin's orbital Space Vehicle with a body flap placed toward the spacecraft's aft end. More than 180 wind-tunnel tests were used to analyze design alternatives.

Executives at Blue Origin, the rocket venture founded by Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos, have traditionally been reticent about discussing where they're going — but now that they're focusing in on development work for NASA, they're speaking out about their progress and their ambitions. And it turns out that those ambitions are ... well, pretty ambitious.

Like Armadillo Aerospace, Blue is developing a vertical-takeoff suborbital space vehicle for tourists and researchers. Like Sierra Nevada Corp., it's working on an aerodynamic spacecraft to carry NASA astronauts and other spacefliers into orbit. And like SpaceX, it's working on its own launch vehicles as well. The company may not provide many specifics about its timeline, but that doesn't mean the pace is lackadaisical.

"It's not a question of, 'Are we on some timeline,'" Brett Alexander, Blue Origin's director of strategy and business development, told me last week. "We've always said 'later in this decade' is when we're going to do it. Working with NASA will just accelerate us."

Alexander, who has worked on aerospace issues for more than two decades in government and industry circles, discussed Blue Origin's blue-sky ambitions as a follow-up to last week's news about a successful round of wind-tunnel tests for its orbital Space Vehicle, or SV. He said more than 180 runs were conducted at Lockheed Martin's wind-tunnel facility in Dallas to work out the right placement of aerodynamic body flaps on the aft end of the spacecraft.

The idea is that the flaps will enhance SV's biconic shape to give the capsule an extra bit of cross-range maneuverability "without the weight penalty and the complexity of wheels and wings," Alexander said. That could allow for a quicker return to orbit in the event of an emergency, since the SV could more easily be guided to a parachute-slowed descent over a designated land range.

May is a big month for Blue
Alexander said the resulting spacecraft design "will be officially blessed" at a system requirements review in May. Also during May, Blue Origin expects to begin testing of the thrust chamber assembly for its BE-3 rocket engine at NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, Alexander said.

The company, based in Kent, Wash., is receiving $22 million from NASA during the current phase of the space agency's program to help commercial ventures develop space taxis for the post-shuttle era. The SV isn't nearly as big as the space shuttle, of course, but it should be capable of transporting up to seven passengers to and from the International Space Station.

Alexander declined to say definitively whether Blue Origin would apply for further NASA funding during the next phase of the effort, known as Commercial Crew Integrated Capability or CCiCap. But with or without the money from NASA, Bezos and his team intend to create its their very own space transportation system.

"We started this design before NASA had the commercial crew program," Alexander said. "It was always our intention — and still is — to develop this."

He said that the plan calls for the "first few flights" to be launched on United Launch Alliance's Atlas 5 rocket, and that Blue Origin will eventually switch to its own launch vehicle with a reusable first stage.

Suborbital craft as 'pathfinder'
In parallel with its orbital development effort for NASA, Blue Origin is working on a separate crew capsule and propulsion vehicle that would blast off vertically for suborbital space trips. That part of the space program came into the spotlight last August, when Blue's unmanned test rocket went awry and crashed at the end of a supersonic test flight at Bezos' private spaceport in Texas. At the time, Bezos said that his team was "already working on our next development vehicle." Last week, Alexander said the development effort was "still under way."

In February, Alexander told Flightglobal that the suborbital crew capsule was undergoing testing, and that a pad-abort test would be conducted "in the summer sometime."

Although the funding arrangements for the privately backed suborbital program and the NASA-supported orbital program may be different, the two programs support each other technologically.

"Suborbital is definitely a pathfinder for our orbital system," Alexander said. The implication is that Blue Origin's rockets will be taking tourists and researchers to the edge of space significantly earlier than they'll be taking astronauts to orbit.

Bezos, whose net worth is currently estimated at more than $20 billion, doesn't strictly need NASA's money to pursue his long-held space ambitions. But Alexander said government backing will quicken Blue Origin's pace, and he argued against the sentiment in Congress that NASA should select just one company as the "leader" to go forward with spaceship development. Right now, NASA is supporting development efforts at four companies — the Boeing Co., Sierra Nevada Corp. and SpaceX as well as Blue Origin — and observers expect the field to shrink for the next round of funding. It's just a question of how much shrinkage there'll be.

"Competition is definitely better — better for the program, better for the country, better for the future of human spaceflight," Alexander told me. "If they down-select to one, it's no longer a commercial space program."

What do you think about Blue Origin's ambitions and the prospects for commercial spaceships? Feel free to weigh in with your comments below.

More about Blue Origin and Jeff Bezos:

• Blue Origin spruces up its rocket report
• How tycoons will fuel future spaceflight
• Bezos aims to bring up Apollo 11's sunken engines
• Cosmic Log archive on the commercial space race

Alan Boyle is msnbc.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.

NASA and ATK, the Utah-based company that built solid rocket boosters for the space shuttle, have announced a deal to work together on the development of a new commercial rocket.

Today's Space Act agreement, which runs through next March, does not call for NASA to pay ATK. In fact, it's conceivable that ATK could pay NASA for services rendered at Kennedy Space Center in Florida or elsewhere. But eventually ATK hopes that the Liberty rocket, built in cooperation with Europe's EADS Astrium aerospace consortium, will be used to send astronauts to the International Space Station, with NASA paying the cost.

"This is going to be the home of Liberty," Kent Rominger, vice president of strategy and business development for ATK Aerospace, told journalists at Kennedy Space Center during a news briefing.

That means ATK would have to buddy up with a spaceship company, such as the Boeing Co. (with its CST-100 crew vehicle) or Sierra Nevada Corp. (with its Dream Chaser space plane). ATK sees today's agreement as a way to get through the door and make its pitch to those future spaceship providers.

Rominger said the Liberty rocket could be used by any of the space taxis currently being considered for NASA's use.

ATK, or Alliant Techsystems, is already testing a modified version of its four-segment solid rocket booster for NASA's future use. The latest on-the-ground engine test went off successfully just last week in Utah. Beefed-up versions of the booster could be used not only as part of the Liberty launch system but also as part of NASA's more powerful Space Launch System, which is still in the planning stage.

The company had been working on a five-segment version of the booster for NASA's Ares 1 rocket as an element to support NASA's Constellation program to return astronauts to the moon, but Ares 1 went by the wayside when the back-to-the-moon effort was canceled. Today's agreement could lead to a revival of at least a part of the Ares 1 program under a different name. 

Between now and next March, ATK and NASA would work together on the design of the Liberty rocket. The current design calls for the five-segment booster to serve as Liberty's first stage, with an adapted version of Europe's workhorse Ariane 5 rocket serving as the second stage. The rocket would be capable of lifting 44,000 pounds (20 metric tons) to low-Earth orbit, ATK says.

Although the company is working on hardware at its Utah facilities, no hardware would be delivered to NASA under the terms of the current agreement, Rominger said. "Right now, it's paper," he said.

Ed Mango, NASA's commercial crew program manager, said the Liberty project provided an "outstanding opportunity" for international cooperation in the post-shuttle era.

John Schumacher, vice president of space programs for EADS North America, told journalists that the Liberty concept "brings together the best of U.S. and European launch capabilities."

The Liberty rocket was proposed as an option for NASA development funding during the current phase of commercial crew vehicle development, but it lost out in that $269.3 million competition to four other firms that were building spacecraft: Boeing, Blue Origin, Sierra Nevada Corp. and SpaceX. ATK hopes to partner with spaceship builders to win NASA funding in the next phase of the commercial crew development program, or CCDev.

"We're talking to everybody that we can," Rominger said. Boeing, Blue Origin and Sierra Nevada have said they are initially aiming to use United Launch Alliance's Atlas 5 vehicle, which is already supported by a Space Act agreement similar to ATK's. SpaceX plans to use its own Falcon 9 rocket. Rominger acknowledged that SpaceX was not in the market for Liberty, but he voiced hope that ATK could strike a deal with other spaceship companies.

"We believe pricing-wise for the performance, nobody can match what Liberty can do," he said.

Other tidbits:

• Rominger said "our best guess" is that the first stage of the Liberty development effort would bring 300 jobs to Florida. Mango estimated that 50 individuals at NASA may be involved in the work with ATK under the Space Act agreement, but not full-time.
• The testing schedule for Liberty depends on NASA's future awards for the next phase of CCDev, but Rominger said the rocket could be ready by the time any spaceship was ready for flight. NASA is targeting the middle of the decade as the time frame for such flights. ATK's news release says Liberty could be ready for its first test flight in 2014, leading to a crewed flight for the third launch in 2015.
• If ATK loses out in the commercial crew vehicle competition, there would still be a business case for Liberty, "but it's not as strong," Rominger said. The rocket could also be used for launching satellites or transporting cargo to the International Space Station, he said.

More about the commercial space race:

• Amazon's Jeff Bezos reports crash of Blue Origin rocket ship
• SpaceX looks for an extra rocket base
• Is America's space effort dying, or evolving?
• Gallery: Ten players in the commercial space race
• Cosmic Log archive on the new space race

Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter or adding me to your Google+ circle. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for other worlds. 

NASA file

A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket blasts off with NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory in February 2010.

United Launch Alliance, the venture that sends most of America's robotic spacecraft into orbit and beyond, has struck a deal with NASA to find out what it will take to make ULA's Atlas 5 rocket ready for NASA's astronauts.

No money is changing hands under the terms of NASA's Space Act agreement with United Launch Alliance, announced today. But Ed Mango, NASA's program manager for commercial crew development, said the space agency would study the launch venture's record over the next six to nine months to assess what risks would be involved in launching humans to the International Space Station on the Atlas 5.

United Launch Alliance, meanwhile, will spend "a significant amount of money, ULA internal funds" to make the Atlas system more crew-worthy, said George Sowers, ULA's vice president for business development. United Launch Alliance is a joint venture involving Lockheed Martin (which makes Atlas rockets) and The Boeing Co. (which makes Delta rockets).

ULA launches most of the U.S. military's satellites and U.S. commercial satellites, as well as NASA unmanned probes ranging from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter to the Mars rovers and the Pluto-bound New Horizons spacecraft. But NASA has never cleared either the Atlas or the Delta to launch humans into space.

Mango said one reason for that was the space shuttle. As long as the shuttles were flying, there was no need to certify other rockets as having a "human rating." Now that the shuttle era is ending, NASA will have to certify new launch vehicles as well as new spaceships.

"It could have been done years ago ... but from an overall policy for NASA, now is the right time to do it," he told journalists.

The agreement announced today marks just one small step toward human-rating the Atlas 5. NASA and ULA are focusing on that rocket because it's the chosen launch vehicle for two of the companies receiving tens of millions of dollars from the space agency to develop new spaceships — namely, Sierra Nevada Corp. and Blue Origin. Boeing is also considering the Atlas as the initial launch vehicle for its CST-100 commercial spaceship. The fourth company in the NASA-funded commercial spaceship race, SpaceX, plans to use its own Falcon 9 rocket to launch its Dragon capsule.

During NASA's last shuttle mission, Atlantis' astronauts gave the space station's crew members a U.S. flag that had flown aboard the first shuttle mission in 1981 and asked them to keep it safe for the first crew to visit the space station aboard a commercial spacecraft. Mango said NASA was still aiming for that first flight to occur around 2015 — although he acknowledged today that the date was "a little bit soft," due in part to funding concerns. NASA had earlier signaled that $850 million would be set aside for the next phase of the commercial crew development project, but that funding level is under congressional scrutiny.

Sowers contended that the Atlas 5's track record, with 26 straight successful launches, made it a front-runner to carry astronauts in the future — and he said the rocket could be ready by the time any spacecraft was ready to fly on it.

He said the key enhancements yet to be added to the Atlas launch system included an Emergency Detection System, which would monitor the rocket's telemetry for any warning signs, and issue alerts or abort commands to the crew if anything went wrong. NASA gave $6.7 million to ULA during the first phase of the commercial crew development program to work on the detection system, and ULA said it spent another $1.3 million on its prototype test bed.

Sowers also said ULA would work on the infrastructure for getting astronauts on and off an Atlas launch pad.

The next phase of NASA funding for commercial crew is expected to go forward around the middle of next year, and would focus on the integrated design of launch vehicles, spacecraft and mission operations, Mango said. ULA could be in the running for further funding at that time.

Mango emphasized that human-rating certification was still years away — and that such certifications would have to cover complete systems, rather than the rocket and the spaceship separately. Nevertheless, he said today's agreement should be seen as a positive sign for U.S. human spaceflight as the space shuttle program is winding down.

"It's a good day for the commercial crew program ... It's a very good day for ULA, and overall it's a very good day for Americans to know that we're continuing our efforts in space," Mango said.

That sentiment was seconded in a statement from Mango's boss, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden.

"I am truly excited about the addition of ULA to NASA's commercial crew development team," Bolden said. "Having ULA on board may speed the development of a commercial crew transportation system for the International Space Station, allowing NASA to concentrate its resources on exploring beyond low-Earth orbit."

Other angles to the deal:

• Sowers noted that the Atlas 5 was also being considered by Bigelow Aerospace, along with Boeing's CST-100 capsule, as the means for carrying passengers to and from the commercial space stations that it's planning to put in orbit in the 2015 time frame.
• Mango noted that ULA's other big rocket, the Delta 4, was being considered as a potential launch vehicle for NASA's Orion crew vehicle, also known as the multipurpose crew vehicle or MPCV. NASA plans to use the Orion for exploration beyond Earth orbit, starting in the 2017-2020 time frame. However, beyond-orbit trips will require the development of a new heavy-lift rocket currently known as the Space Launch System or SLS. The Delta 4 could be used for less ambitious trips — for test flights or trips to the space station, for example. Although ULA's work under the Space Act agreement did not directly apply to the Delta, Sowers said the development of the Emergency Detection System could benefit efforts to win a human rating for the Delta 4 as well.

More perspectives on the post-shuttle era:

• Is the space effort dying, or evolving?
• Boeing runs hard in new space race
• Sierra Nevada chases NASA's dream
• SpaceX chief sets his sights on Mars
• After the shuttle lands, layoffs loom
• Shuttle's legacy: Soaring in orbit and costs 
• Gallery: Ten players in the commercial space race

Connect with the Cosmic Logcommunity by "liking" the log's Facebook page or following @b0yle on Twitter. You can also add me to your Google+ circle, and check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.