The NASA Commercial Crew program's requirements include a line item for "assured crew return in the event of an emergency."[0] Which means any of the CCDev pro

The NASA Commercial Crew program's requirements include a line item for "assured crew return in the event of an emergency."[0] Which means any of the CCDev proposals that use the traditional rocket launch approach for the first stage need an abort mechanism that can carry the crew module away from the rest of the vehicle. So arguably you're right, but they have to develop abort capability per the NASA spec. [0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commercial_Crew_Development#Requirements http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commercial_Crew_Development#Req...