Andy Aldrin talks to media about plans to launch NASA astronauts to the International Space Station in the Atlas Spaceflight Operations Center ASOC.

Andy Aldrin, director of business development for United Launch Alliance (ULA), talks to media about plans to launch NASA astronauts to the International Space Station in the Atlas Spaceflight Operations Center (ASOC) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. ULA is working to make its Atlas V rocket safe for humans for NASA's Commercial Crew Program (CCP) under the Commercial Crew Development Round 2 (CCDev2) activities. Part of those plans will be to design and test an emergency detection system and crew access capabilities. ULA also is working with other aerospace system providers developing spacecraft that would launch atop the company's Atlas V rocket, such as Blue Origin, Sierra Nevada and The Boeing Co. CCP, which is based at the adjacent NASA's Kennedy Space Center, is partnering with industry to take crews to the station or other low Earth orbit destinations. Aldrin explained that the goal of ULA will be to develop a human spaceflight capability without altering rocket's proven design and successful track record. It's the freedom to develop innovative solutions such as this that CCP hopes will drive down the cost of space travel as well as open up space to more people than ever before.

Seven aerospace companies are maturing launch vehicle and spacecraft designs under CCDev2, including Alliant Techsystems Inc. (ATK) of Promontory, Utah, Blue Origin of Kent, Wash., The Boeing Co., of Houston, Excalibur Almaz Inc. of Houston, Sierra Nevada Corp. of Louisville, Colo., Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) of Hawthorne, Calif., and United Launch Alliance (ULA) of Centennial, Colo. For more information, visit www.nasa.gov/exploration/commercial Photo credit: Jim Grossmann