NASA is seeking industry input on capabilities and ideas for astronaut crew rescue services in support of the space agency’s Commercial Crew Program and Exploration Ground Systems missions.
In a SAM.gov notice posted Friday, NASA said it is considering a commercial offering for the required services during launch, free flight and landing phases of the programs such as real-time communication with the agency, crew retrieval and basic medical care while in transport.
Currently, the Department of Defense performs rescue support for NASA. CCP launch rescue covers the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center, the coast of the U.S. and Canada and across the coast of Ireland while EGS’ activity is from KSC across the Atlantic.
The space agency is also exploring industry on-call rescue services for those instances that require it outside of the defined phases of flights and locations.
All CCP missions beginning in 2023 and all Artemis missions starting with the second iteration of the program are expected to need astronaut crew rescue services. Responses to the request for information are due Aug. 29th.