Commercial Human Launch by 2015

Orbital Sr. VP Frank Culbertson appearing before the Augustine Commission in 2009.
Former NASA astronaut Frank Culbertson, now Senior Vice-President at Virginia-based Orbital Sciences Corporation, appeared before a Senate Commerce subcommittee this week giving testimony as to the capability of the Taurus 2 booster planned for launch from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Wallops Island, Va. saying that human launches could occur by 2015.

"Orbital believes, as do I, that U.S. industry, given the right conditions, relationships, and investments, should be able to develop and demonstrate safe and reliable crew transportation systems for International Space Station support by 2015," Culbertson told the Senate subcommittee.

"Since 2008 Orbital has been fully engaged as one of two companies contracted to provide the delivery of crew and cargo to the International Space Station. Although this has been a huge development program for a company of our size, and unprecedented in scope for a purely commercial venture between a private company and NASA, I am very pleased to report that from Orbital’s perspective, and that of our shareholders, we have made steady and valuable progress. We expect to have achieved all but 3 of 21 NASA program milestones by the end of this year," with the Taurus-2 launching from Wallops Island, Va. for the first time in the April 2011.