A second commercial space launch bid protest has been filed in U.S. Court of Federal Claims in Washington on July 23, 2009 by Chicago-based PlanetSpace requesting NASA to reconsider or re-open the competition for the $3.1 billion awards to Orbital Sciences Corporation and Space Technologies Corporation (SpaceX) to deliver re-supply cargo to the International Space Station (ISS). On April 22, 2009 the federal Government Accounatbility Office (GAO) denied a similar PlanetSpace protest. PlanetSpace had significant senior space partners in the lost bid.
NASA executed contracts with Orbital Sciences Corporation to launch the Taurus-II from Wallops Island, Va. and SpaceX to launch the Falcon-9 from Cape Canveral, Fla. to haul tons of re-supply payloads to the ISS through 2016. Orbital was contracted to provide 8-flights from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at $1.9 billion while SpaceX will provide 12-flights from the commercial spaceport at Cape Canaveral.
The ISS is now re-supplied by Russian-made Progress spacecraft and European-made ATV and the ESA is planning several more versions. Japan will launch its first ISS re-supply mission next month. SpaceX is expected to launch the first American commercial re-supply mission next year with Orbital Sciences Corporation launching in the spring of 2011.
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