NASA has told Boeing to stop work on the US Propulsion Module (USPM) for the International Space Station (ISS) after the manufacturer ran over budget on the project.
NASA will announce a decision on a new concept for the module on 18 August, selected from three options: a simple mono-propellant reboost package; a redesigned node - Node X - with propellant tanks strapped to each side and an engine; or a new vehicle which would also include a crew transfer tunnel.
Boeing and the Spacehab company, meanwhile, are racing to see which will be first to dock its proposed commercial module to the ISS. Spacehab and Energia introduced plans for the Enterprise commercial module last year, while Boeing and Khrunichev recently announced that they are planning a joint commercial module. Both modules are to be docked to the same port on the ISS.
Source: Flight International
