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ATK has completed a commercial spacecraft that could potentially begin taking astronauts and supplies into space by 2016, the company announced Wednesday.
Lockheed Martin, L-3 Communications and ATK are among the team members that helped develop develop the Liberty spacecraft and its associated systems.
Design and manufacturing for the vehicle’s spacecraft, abort system, launch vehicle and ground and mission operations are complete, ATK said.
The company added Liberty may be ready for its first flight test in 2014 and will undergo its next milestone with system structural tests of Liberty’s stage tank in June, ATK said.
Kent Rominger, vice president and program manager for Liberty, said the vehicle will allow the U.S. to end its dependence on Russia for travel to the space station.
ATK will work with Liberty program team members and NASA to complete the program’s design and production based on lessons learned from commercial production.
Lockheed will provide crew interface systems design, subsystem selection, assembly and integration for Liberty.
Flight tests are expected to begin in 2014 and crewed missions could begin as early as late 2015, ATK notes.
ATK said it expects the program’s additional development phases will create and sustain jobs in Alabama, California, Virginia, Utah, Texas, Ohio, New York, Maryland, Florida and Colorado.
