Sierra Nevada is conducting flight readiness reviews for the first drop test of the Dream Chaser lifting body at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards AFB, Calif., amid wider preparations for the company’s first Commercial Crew critical design review (CDR).

Conditions are good for the first flight to the International Space Station of the Orbital Sciences Corp. Antares rocket with a Cygnus commercial cargo carrier, which would give NASA two ways to resupply station crews with food, clothing and hardware.

Boeing and Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), the competitors proposing capsule-based concepts for NASA’s Commercial Crew program, are approaching an intense period of key test and development milestones, made busier by new targets added by the space agency.

U.S. AIR FORCE

NASA’s Mission Control Center has successfully carried out a communications software verification test with its first prospective U.S. commercial crew transport, Boeing’s seven-person CST-100 spacecraft. The company’s collaboration with NASA for CST-100 mission planning, training and flight operations under a reimbursable Space Act Agreement began under the second phase of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program in 2011-12.

U.S. ARMY

SAN DIEGO — NASA is poised to issue a request for proposals (RFP) for the second phase of development and certification of a U.S.-developed crew transportation system as part of the build-up to awarding Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap) contracts in mid-2014.

Orbital Sciences Corp. says the planned launch its first Cygnus spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS) on a demonstration mission for NASA has been pushed back one day due to weather and the need to replace an inoperative cable.